Investor pays $4.4M for 5-unit mixed-use in Little Italy

An individual through the entity 148 Baxter Corp. paid $4.4 million to Roger Dang through the entity Baxter Corp. for the five-unit mixed-use building (S9) at 148 Baxter Street in Little Italy, Manhattan.
The deal closed on July 6, 2022 and was recorded on July 22, 2022. The property has 5,250 square feet of built space and 2,102 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 7,350 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $838 and the price per buildable square foot is $598 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.)

Prior sales and revenue

The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development include Roger Dang, head officer and Mimi Lum, officer. The business entity is Baxter Corp. The 5,250-square-foot property generated revenue of $128,468 or $24 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 148 Baxter Street parcel has frontage of 21 feet and is 71 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,470 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-5B which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $1,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Little Italy, the bulk, or 33 percent of the 4.1 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Little Italy has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $105.3 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Little Italy has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 59,359 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 1 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the 15 commercial properties representing 13,300 square feet of the 173,901 square feet. The identified owner is Kow Quen Realty Corp.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 60 percent of the 170,344 square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 148 Baxter Street, PincusCo identified nine commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those nine items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit issued on November 9, 2020 for the $692,621 renovation of 123,135-square-foot office (B) building at 148 Lafayette Street.
Of those nine items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $21.6 million. The most recent of the two was RWN Management which bought the 9,350-square-foot, eight-unit mixed-use building (S9) on 147 Grand Street for $16.1 million from Empire Capital Holdings on December 22, 2021.
Of those nine items, six were loans above $5 million totaling $61.9 million. The most recent of the six was Building Equity Management which borrowed $13.5 million from New York Community Bank secured by the 21,907-square-foot, 38-unit rental (C7) on 191 Grand Street and one other property on July 15, 2022.

Clarification: the buyer was edited to only reflect the LLC entity name.

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