HUBB NYC pays $63.5M to Be-Aviv for 78-unit rental in Lower East Side

HUBB NYC through the entity 167-171 Chrystie St LLC paid $63.5 million to Be-Aviv through the entity 167-171 Chrystie Lp for the midblock 78-unit residential elevator building at 167-171 Chrystie Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan. The ownership was acquired through the purchase of a ground lease.
The deal closed on May 24, 2022 and was recorded on June 16, 2022. The two properties have 66,033 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $961 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The signatory for Be-Aviv was Ben Harlev. The signatory for HUBB NYC was John P. McCarthy and Jesse Terry. The Real Deal first reported the sale in May. The fee is owned by a company with the president Margarita Ruiz, which signed a 99-year ground lease with Be-Aviv in 2017.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer HUBB NYC purchased 30 properties in 14 transactions for a total of $413 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Adam Reisman, head officer and Ben Harlev, officer. The business entity is 167-171 Chrystie Lp.

The property

The most recent loan totaled $28.5 million and was provided by Bank Leumi on December 5, 2019.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received one DOB violation and $150 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 78-unit, 58,161-square-foot R-2 building. The project was developed by Ben Harlev with plans filed August 21, 2018 and permitted March 30, 2020.

The neighborhood

In Lower East Side, the majority, or 60 percent of the 33.2 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Lower East Side has 2.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $677.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 18th highest in Manhattan. For development, Lower East Side has 2.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other residential elevator buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 169-171 Chrystie Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of nine of the 32 commercial properties representing 223,664 square feet of the 432,835 square feet. The largest owner is Brack Capital Real Estate, followed by Nathan Halegua and then Edmond Li. There are three active new building construction projects totaling 102,574 square feet. The largest is a 78-unit, 58,161-square-foot R-2 building developed by Ben Harlev with plans filed August 21, 2018 and permitted March 30, 2020. The second largest is a 13-unit, 27,272-square-foot R-2 building developed by Hagay Azoulay with plans filed November 26, 2014 and permitted October 4, 2017.

The majority, or 28 percent of the 420,086 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 169-171 Chrystie Street, PincusCo identified eight commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those eight items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit application filed on February 9, 2022 for a 49,398-square-foot R-2 building with 26 residential units at 183 Chrystie Street.
One of those eight items was a sale which Omnia Group bought the 9,600-square-foot, one-unit industrial (I7) on 183 Chrystie Street for $19.5 million from Joel Fishkind on December 29, 2021.
Of those eight items, six were loans above $5 million totaling $126.7 million. The most recent of the six was Ricky Liang which borrowed $7.1 million from Cathay Bank secured by the 19,239-square-foot, seven-unit mixed-use building (K4) on 207 Bowery on February 10, 2022.

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