Korean firm MediaWill plans 77-unit mixed-use conversion in Penn Plaza

Toni Park representing the Korean real estate firm MediaWill submitted a major alteration plan to convert a the eight-story commercial building that was the home to the Jacks discount store at 110 West 32nd Street in Penn Plaza, Manhattan, which has no residential units, into a 77-unit, residential building that will have retail on floors one and two. Toni Park also spells his name Tony Park. Jacks was also known as Jack’s Stores and Jack’s 99¢ Store.

MediaWill bought the building on September 15, 2023, for $37 million. 
The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on September 6, 2023 under job number M00914325. It calls for a rehab of the eight-story building. The project is described in the filing as: hereby filing interior demo to remove portions of existing ceilings, nonbearing partitions, removal of existing stairs, elevators and existing plumbing fixtures. General construction to include new partitions, ceilings, and floors, and create new openings.
The plans call for retail on the first and second floors and 14 units each on floors three through seven and seven units on the eighth floor, for a total of 77.

The former owners of the building, Jack Franco and Murray Dweck, signed a zoning lot merger agreement in 2006 with Stonehenge, which developed a 337 unit building at 109 West 31st Street, which is adjacent.

The property

The mixed-use building in Penn Plaza has 102,145 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has two buildings with frontage of 62 feet and is 197 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,312 square feet. The zoning is C6-4.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $20.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $22 million and was provided by Alma Bank on September 15, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold by Jack Franco and Murray Dweck for $37 million to MediaWill on September 15, 2023.

The 102,145-square-foot property generated revenue of $3.7 million or $36 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received six DOB violations and $750 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Penn Plaza, The majority, or 76 percent of the 20.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Penn Plaza has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $214.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 35th highest in Manhattan. For development, Penn Plaza has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 21st highest in Manhattan. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the six commercial properties representing 1,425,444 square feet of the 1,646,671 square feet. The largest owner is Kaufman Investments, followed by MediaWill and then Vornado Realty Trust. There are no active ground up construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that MediaWill owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 102,145 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single mixed-use property. It is located in Manhattan.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 110 West 32nd Street, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. One of those three items was a sale which Beacon Capital Partners and Kaufman Investments bought the 214,349-square-foot, 280-unit office building (O4) on 875 Avenue Of The Amer for $92.5 million from James Wacht, Peter Braus, and Sierra Real Estate on July 12, 2023. Of those three items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $510 million. The most recent of the two was Justin Management in which borrowed $30 million from Metropolitan Commercial Bank secured by the 151,525-square-foot, 77-unit office building (O6) on 115 West 30th Street on August 8, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.