Massry family’s Wharton Realty Group signs $85M refi for retail building in Jamaica

The Massry family’s Wharton Realty Group through the entity Gertz Plaza Acquisition 2, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Investors Bank valued at $85 million for the retail building at 162-10 Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.
The deal closed on December 16, 2021 and was recorded on February 18, 2022. The prior lender was M&T Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $62 million.
The property has 471,648 square feet of built space and 7,653 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 479,603 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $180 and the price per buildable square foot is $177 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 Wharton Realty Group was Isaac D. Massry. The signatory for Investors Bank was Christopher K. Hawkswell.
The 471,648-square-foot property generated revenue of $12.8 million or $27 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Over the past five years, there have been 11 NYC Department of Buildings permit applications filed for this parcel valued at more than $20,000. There were 11 renovation/alteration projects (A2) applied for with a total estimated value of $4.5 million.
Wharton Realty Group is a real estate investment firm located in Eatonton, New Jersey, founded by Daniel Massry. It is located at the same address as owner LLC. https://wrgusa.com/
In Jamaica, the bulk, or 33 percent of the 46.7 million square feet of built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Jamaica has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $164 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Jamaica has 3.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Queens. It had 3.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other retail buildings in the past 12 months.
On the tax block, the majority, or 99 percent of the 556,860 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 1 percent of the space. There have been one new construction projects filed or permitted on the block in the last two years. The largest was for a 471648.0-square foot M building, filed on October 22, 2021. There was one new construction project filed on the block for a 471648.0-square foot M building, filed on October 22, 2021.
Within a 400-foot radius of 162-10 Jamaica Avenue, PincusCo identified six commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those six items, six were loans above $5 million totaling $194.6 million. The most recent of the six was Fereydoun Khalili which borrowed $15 million from First National Bank of Long Island secured by the 72,332-square-foot, 13-unit office building (O5) on 161-10 Jamaica Avenue on January 19, 2022.

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