Lori Eng pays $4M for 8-unit walkup in Chinatown

Lori Eng through the entity Weiyan 88 LLC paid $4 million to HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate through the entity East Soho Corp. for the eight-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 19 Pell Street in Chinatown, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on July 16, 2024 and was recorded on July 30, 2024. The property has 5,860 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $682 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 seller bought the property on May 26, 2016, for $3.7 million. The signatory for Lori Eng was Lori Eng. The signatory for HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate was Eric Chong. The contract date was February 21, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Lori Eng had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Eric Chong had not purchased any other properties and sold five properties in two transactions for a total of $7.5 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Philip Chong, head officer and Philip, Jr. Chong, officer. The business entity is East Soho Corp.

The property

The residential walkup building with 8 residential units in Chinatown has 5,860 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 21 feet and is 55 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,175 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-1 which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.2 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 45 commercial properties representing 22,889 square feet of the 398,209 square feet. The largest owner is Evan Yu-Dong Lee, followed by Jason Jiacon Fok and then Manouchehr Malekan.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 31 percent of the 398,209 square feet of built space are office buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

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