Lender G4 Capital Partners acquires new West Village office building valued at $44.1M from borrowers

The lender G4 Capital Partners through the entity G4 18254, LLC acquired the office building (O6) at 76 8th Avenue in the West Village, Manhattan, from former borrowers and developers Sang Lee and Chun Lee through the entity 76 8th Ave Holdings LLC, in a transaction valued at $44.1 million.

In March 2019, G4 Capital Partners provided a $39.6 million acquisition and construction loan to 76 8th Ave LLC, the affiliate of Sang Lee and Chun Lee, to purchase the property for $18 million and develop the office building. The building has an alternate address of 254 West 14th Street.

The transfer closed on April 30, 2024 and was recorded on May 2, 2024. The property has 34,364 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,282 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 Sang Lee and Chun Lee was Sang Lee. The signatory for G4 Capital Partners was Jason Behfarin.

G4 Capital Partners, the former lender, took control of the property through an entity level transfer. Chun Lee of Chun Woo Realty Corp submitted a new building construction project for a 29,671 square-foot office (B) building at 76 8th Avenue. The plan was filed on February 12, 2015 and was permitted on September 11, 2019. It calls for the construction of a 120-foot tall, 10-story building and was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number 121192690. The project is described in the filing as: hereby filing for new 10 story office building. The building was issued its initial TCO on June 2, 2022.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer G4 Capital Partners had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Sang Lee had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $5.5 million over the same time period.

The property

The office building in West Village has 34,364 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 46 feet and is 80 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,607 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-2A which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing.

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 received one DOB violation and $1,300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 29,671 square-foot B building. The project was submitted by Chun Lee with plans filed February 12, 2015 and permitted September 11, 2019.

The neighborhood

In West Village, The bulk, or 32 percent of the 10.2 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, West Village has the 9th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, West Village has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 26th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 14 of the 31 commercial properties representing 305,022 square feet of the 501,344 square feet. The largest owner is Scharfman Organization, followed by S.W. Management and then Roger Dubois.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 29,671 square feet. It is a 29,671 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Chun Lee with plans filed February 12, 2015 and permitted May 10, 2019.

The majority, or 45 percent of the 501,344 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Chun Lee owned at least five commercial properties with 33 residential units in New York City with 27,563 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, all identified are walkup properties. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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