Joseph Riegler pays $20.5M to Dragos Adrian Firescu for two industrial properties in Mt Eden

Joseph Riegler through the entity 1342 Inwood Jr Partners LLC paid $20.5 million to Dragos Adrian Firescu through the entity Jerome Jsd Holdings, LLC for industrial building (F5) at 1342 Inwood Avenue in Mt Eden, Bronx and industrial building (G7) at 1351 Jerome Avenue in Mt Eden, Bronx.
The deal closed on March 1, 2023 and was recorded on March 13, 2023.The two properties have 56,250 square feet of built space and 190,950 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 247,247 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $364 and the price per buildable square foot is $82 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 Dragos Adrian Firescu was Dragos Adrian Firescu. The signatory for Joseph Riegler was Joseph Riegler. The contract date was May 11, 2022.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 1342 Inwood Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Joseph Riegler purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $3.5 million and sold two properties in one transaction for a total of $3 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Dragos Adrian Firescu had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $12.7 million over the same time period. Out of the two properties, one with a total of 56,250 square feet of built space generated revenue of $648,000 per year.

The property

The 1342 Inwood Avenue parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 112 feet deep with a total lot size of 22,885 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.5 million.The most recent loan totaled $18.3 million and was provided by Investors Bank on August 24, 2020.

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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 131-unit, 89,176 square-foot R-2 building. The project was developed by Joseph Riegler with plans filed May 4, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Mt Eden, the majority, or 52 percent of the 10.2 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Mt Eden has the 25th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $54.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Mt Eden has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 835,749 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 1342 Inwood Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the eight commercial properties representing 296,940 square feet of the 357,940 square feet. The two identified owners are Dragos A. Firescu and Atlantic Development Group.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 275,888 square feet. The largest is a 255-unit, 186,712-square-foot R-2 building developed by Peter Fine with plans filed June 15, 2018 and permitted April 18, 2019. The second largest is a 131-unit, 89,176-square-foot R-2 building developed by Joseph Riegler with plans filed May 4, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

the majority, or 56 percent of the 357,940 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joseph Riegler owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 168,874 square feet and a city-determined market value of $9.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $5.5 million in debt, borrowed from Sterling National Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 41 percent of the 168,874 square feet of built space are D7 properties, with elevator properties next occupying 33 percent of the space. The bulk, or 59 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 41 percent of the space.

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