Lalezarian Properties signs $60M refi for 130-unit rental in Midtown East

Lalezarian Properties through the entity East 54th Street Properties LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Bank of New York Mellon valued at $60 million for the 130-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 232 East 54th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 21, 2022 and was recorded on October 31, 2022. The prior lender was Bank of New York Mellon which held debt that had an original loan amount of $47.8 million. The property has 120,000 square feet of built space according to the company.
The signatory for Lalezarian Properties was Kevin Lalezarian. The signatory for Bank of New York Mellon was Kamal Yagubov.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Shahzad Mossanen, head officer and Julian Mossanen, officer. The business entity is East 54th Street Properties Llc.

The property

The 232 East 54th Street parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,021 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 $15.7 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 $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 130-unit, 245,946 square-foot R-2 building. The project was developed by Shaz Mossanen with plans filed October 28, 2015 and permitted September 27, 2018.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 19 commercial properties representing 594,117 square feet of the 802,176 square feet. The largest owner is Ceruzzi Properties, followed by Empire Management and then Sol Goldman Investments.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 287,685 square feet. The largest is a 130-unit, 245,946-square-foot R-2 building developed by Shaz Mossanen with plans filed October 28, 2015 and permitted September 19, 2017. The second largest is a 29-unit, 41,739-square-foot R-2 building developed by Abraham Lokshin with plans filed November 13, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 75 percent of the 777,349 square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Lalezarian Properties owned at least 11 commercial properties in New York City with 763,309 square feet and a city-determined market value of $235.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $519.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as JPMorgan Chase, New York Community Bank, and Wells Fargo respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 91 percent of the 763,309 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 7 percent of the space. The bulk, or 57 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 43 percent of the space.

Correction: A prior version of this article incorrectly reported the number of units as 58 and the square feet as 60,245 square feet.

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