Leser Group signs $47.9M refi with Customers Bank for 179-unit rental in Castle Hill

Leser Group through the entity Seward Housing LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Customers Bank through the entity Customers Bank valued at $47.9 million for the 179-unit residential elevator building at 2025 Seward Avenue in Castle Hill, Bronx.
The deal closed on April 14, 2022 and was recorded on April 27, 2022. The prior lender was Fannie Mae which held debt that had an original loan amount of $35 million.The property has 221,208 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $216 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 owner bought the property on May 10, 2017, for $34.9 million. The signatory for Leser Group was Abraham Leser. The signatory for Customers Bank was Leo DiLoreto.

Prior sales and revenue

The owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is David Kornitzer, head officer. The business entity is Seward Housing, Llc. The 221,208-square-foot property generated revenue of $3 million or $13 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 2025 Seward Avenue parcel has frontage of 395 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 79,118 square feet. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $11.2 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 184 housing violations and $1,910 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Castle Hill, the bulk, or 36 percent of the 8.1 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, Castle Hill has the 23rd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $38.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Castle Hill has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 209,130 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

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

The majority, or 71 percent of the 312,019 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Leser Group owned at least 27 commercial properties with 976,459 square feet and a city-determined market value of $95.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $285.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders, Axos Bank, and Cross River Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 44 percent of the 976,459 square feet of built space are residential elevator properties, with specialty properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 89 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 11 percent of the space.

Surrounding

PincusCo has not identified any commercial real estate items of interest within a 400-foot radius of 2025 Seward Avenue that occurred over the past 24 months.

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