Indiana mall owner pays $11.7M to Zucker for Midtown East retail, first NYC purchase

The Indianapolis, Indiana-based Sandor LLC through the entity Cottage Sand Realty LLC paid $11.7 million to Zucker Organization through the entity Pooh Bear 59, LLC for the retail condominium unit at 205 East 59th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
This is Sandor LLC’s first purchase in New York City. The acquisition was part of a 1031 exchange, according to a person familiar with the transaction. Sandor also uses the name Sandor Development Company LLC.
The deal closed on August 27, 2024 and was recorded on September 6, 2024. The property has 13,430 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $871 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 Zucker Organization was Albert Berkowitz. The signatory for Sandor LLC was Jay Stein. The contract date was July 23, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Sandor LLC had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Zucker Organization had not purchased any other properties and sold one properties in one transaction for a total of $27 million over the same time period.

The property

The retail condo in Midtown East has 13,430 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has a total lot size of 13,430 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $19.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Midtown East, The majority, or 81 percent of the 62.6 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 7 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown East has the 2nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $3.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 2nd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 15.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 25 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other retail buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 23 commercial properties representing 74,580 square feet of the 196,338 square feet. The largest owner is Beretta, then Cofinance Group.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 31,616 square feet. It is a eight-unit, 31,616 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Nick Tsoulos with plans filed December 12, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 44 percent of the 196,338 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 33 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Zucker Organization owned at least 26 commercial properties with 2,191 residential units in New York City with 2,135,331 square feet and a city-determined market value of $598.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $170.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as State Farm Realty Mortgage, PCCP, and JPMorgan Chase respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 95 percent of the 2,135,331 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 4 percent of the space. The bulk, or 90 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 10 percent of the space.

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