Joel Wieder pays $5.7M to Spaxel for dev site in Fordham Heights

Joel Wieder through the entity GW Ryer LLC paid $5.7 million to Spaxel through the entity 2047 Ryer Avenue LLC for the development site (V0) at 2047 Ryer Avenue in Fordham Heights, Bronx. This parcel was the subject of litigation with another potential buyer suing over a $5.7 million purchase contract.
The deal closed on July 24, 2023 and was recorded on August 2, 2023.

The property has zero square feet of built space and 70,710 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 70,710 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $80 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 seller bought the property on July 26, 2018, for $3 million. The signatory for Spaxel was Albert Gurakuq Gjonbalaj. The signatory for Joel Wieder was Joel Wieder. The contract date was June 23, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Joel Wieder had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Albert Gurakuq Gjonbalaj had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Gurakuq Gjonbalaj, head officer and Pasquale Suriano, agent. The business entity is 2047 Ryer Avenue Llc.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 267 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,746 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $879,000.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $5.7 million money judgment concerning a contract filed on June 26, 2023, by Israel Frankel against Spaxel and Granit Gjonbalaj. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $1,280 in ECB penalties and $2,810 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 128,755 square feet. The largest is a new building project for a 102-unit, 67,673 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Spaxel and filed by Gzim Hasandjekic with plans filed March 5, 2020 and permitted June 3, 2022. The second largest is a new building project for a 91-unit, 61,082 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Spaxel and filed by Glenn Palilla with plans filed October 30, 2018 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Fordham Heights, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 16.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Heights has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $132.8 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Fordham Heights has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 644,429 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 19 of the 37 commercial properties representing 827,749 square feet of the 1,027,395 square feet. The largest owner is William Schur, followed by Victor Gjonaj and then Ved Parkash.
On the tax block, there were 13 new building construction projects totaling 580,931 square feet. The largest is a 111-unit, 75,672 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Arben Mitaj and filed by Arben Mitaj with plans filed September 29, 2020 and permitted October 20, 2021. The second largest is a 102-unit, 67,673 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Spaxel and filed by Gzim Hasandjekic with plans filed March 5, 2020 and permitted June 3, 2022.

The majority, or 73 percent of the 1 million square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Wieder owned at least five commercial properties with 48 residential units in New York City with 44,613 square feet and a city-determined market value of $11.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $36.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, S3 Capital, and Arbor Realty Trust respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 45 percent of the 44,613 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 41 percent of the space. The bulk, or 95 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 5 percent of the space.

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