Lalezarian Properties files plans for 113-unit building in Murray Hill

Cliff Nguyen, director of finance for Lalezarian Properties, submitted a major alteration application for the conversion and enlargement of what is currently a commercial building at 650 First Avenue in Murray Hill, Manhattan, into a residential tower. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on November 3, 2022 under job number M08030325. It calls for the increase in the size of the building from an eight-story building with no dwelling units to a building with 113 dwelling units. The project is described in the filing as: conversion of existing 8-story office building to residential and 3-story vertical enlargement.

The plans call for eight residential units on each of the floors one, two, eight, nine, 10 and 11, and they call for 13 units on each of the floors three through seven. In addition, there will be medical offices on the lower level.

The property records show the building has been owned by David Tawfik’s Princeton International Properties since 2000.

The property

The office building in Murray Hill has 98,400 square feet of built space and 17,641 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 116,060 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The 650 First Avenue parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 125 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,606 square feet. The zoning is C1-9 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $21.3 million.

Prior sales and revenue

The 98,400-square-foot property generated revenue of $4.9 million or $49 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation in the last year.

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

The neighborhood

In Murray Hill, the majority, or 57 percent of the 11.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Murray Hill has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 14th highest in Manhattan. For development, Murray Hill has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 34th highest in Manhattan. It had 286,355 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 650 1 Avenue, PincusCo identified four commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those four items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $20.2 million. The most recent of the two was Candor Capital which bought two condo units in the 9,640-square-foot, 863-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 330 East 38th Street and one other property for $12 million from Turtle Bay Music School on October 19, 2022. Of those four items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $15.2 million. The most recent of the two was Candor Capital which borrowed $9 million from Signature Bank secured by two condo units in the 9,640-square-foot, 863-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 330 East 38th Street on October 19, 2022.

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