Legion Investment Group expands Carnegie Hill dev site with $22M corner purchase

Victor Sigoura’s Legion Investment Group through the entity Madison Ave Owner LLC paid $22 million to Richard Basch through the entity 1128 Madison Avenue, LLC for the retail building (K2) at 1128 Madison Avenue in Carnegie Hill, Manhattan. This purchase expands the development site Legion Investment Group owns on the block.
The deal closed on January 11, 2024 and was recorded on January 25, 2024. The property has 3,729 square feet of built space and 8,741 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 12,470 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $5,899 and the price per buildable square foot is $1,764 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 Richard Basch was Richard Basch. The signatory for Legion Investment Group was Victor Sigoura. The contract date was June 13, 2023. This expands an existing known development parcel.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Legion Investment Group purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $21.1 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Richard Basch had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The retail building in Carnegie Hill has 3,729 square feet of built space and 8,741 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 12,470 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 67 feet and is 18 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,247 square feet. The zoning is C5-1 which allows for up to 4 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 $4.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Carnegie Hill, The majority, or 56 percent of the 13.5 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Carnegie Hill has 2.9 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $901.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. For development, Carnegie Hill has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 794,045 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 four of the 13 commercial properties representing 15,588 square feet of the 362,407 square feet. The identified owner is Legion Investment Group.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 110,940 square feet. It is a 22-unit, 110,940 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Legion Investment Group and filed by Victor Sigoura with plans filed October 31, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 82 percent of the 362,407 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 10 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Richard Basch owned at least one commercial property with 67 residential units in New York City with 75,678 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property. It is located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Legion Investment Group owned at least six commercial properties with 21 residential units in New York City with 25,485 square feet and a city-determined market value of $17.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $54.5 million in debt, borrowed from Deutsche Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 56 percent of the 25,485 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with retail properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 61 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 39 percent of the space.

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