Leser Group signs $90.3M refi for four properties in NYC
The Leser Group through the entity 1440 Story, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders through the entity Mishmeret Trust Company as trustee valued at $90.3 million for four properties including the specialty building (W9) at 1440 Story Avenue in Soundview, Bronx, hotel building (H8) at 411 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and specialty building (Z9) at 115 Van Dyke Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on February 17, 2023 and was recorded on April 6, 2023. The four properties have 105,293 square feet of built space and 21,859 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 106,546 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $857 and the price per buildable square foot is $847 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 A. Leser.
Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 1440 Story Avenue.
The property
The specialty building in Soundview has 105,293 square feet of built space and 21,859 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 106,546 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 246 feet and is 242 feet deep with a total lot size of 59,750 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7.6 million. The most recent loan totaled $13.9 million and was provided by Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders on May 6, 2021.
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 $5,312 in ECB penalties and $5,312 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 neighborhood
In Soundview, The majority, or 58 percent of the 20.5 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Soundview has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $173.1 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Soundview has 2.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Bronx. It had 3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 15 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On the tax block of 1440 Story Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the two commercial properties representing 80,313 square feet of the 247,628 square feet. The identified owner is Leser Group.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 99,981 square feet. It is a 99,981 square-foot industrial (F-1) building submitted by George York with plans filed April 22, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.
All properties are specialty.
The borrower
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 and a city-determined market value of None. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $603.2 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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