Leser Group pays $8.5M for development properties on Staten Island

The Leser Group through the entity Central Avenue Developers LLC paid $8.5 million to 111 Montgomery LLC for the development parcels at 118 Central Avenue in St George, Staten Island.
The deal closed on February 27, 2023 and was recorded on April 10, 2023. The 11 properties have zero square feet of built space and 101,799 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 101,799 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $83 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 Leser Group was Abraham Leser.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Leser Group purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $2.2 million and sold seven properties in four transactions for a total of $235.2 million over the past 24 months.
The seller had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 75 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,499 square feet. The zoning is C4-2 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $534,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $4,200 in OATH penalties 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 block

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

The majority, or 87 percent of the 430,783 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 5 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Leser Group owned at least 21 commercial properties with 329 residential units in New York City with 759,003 square feet. The portfolio has $693.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as UMB Bank, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders, and Ponce Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 759,003 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with specialty properties next occupying 30 percent of the space. The bulk, or 47 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 44 percent of the space.

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