Maurice Kohan buys $7M note at Walter & Samuels’s 25-unit walkup in Yorkville
Maurice Kohan through the entity Khiarshour LLC bought a note with an original principal of $7 million from Citizens Bank secured by Walter & Samuels’s 25-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 1854 Second Avenue in Yorkville, Manhattan.
The deal closed on July 3, 2024 and was recorded on July 24, 2024. The prior lender was Citizens Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $7 million.
The property has 13,500 square feet of built space and 12,162 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,660 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.
The owner bought the property on June 27, 2013, for $9.8 million. The signatory for Walter & Samuels in 2014 was David I. Berley. Citizens Bank’s predecessor Investors Bank provided the $7 million loan in September 2014.
Prior sales and revenue
The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Steve Forest, head officer and David Berley, officer. The business entities are Walter & Samuels Inc and 96 & Second Llc.
The property
The residential walkup building with 25 residential units in Yorkville has 13,500 square feet of built space and 12,162 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,660 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,566 square feet. The zoning is R10A which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.9 million.
Violations and lawsuits
The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $1 million judgment concerning a construction filed on April 26, 2024, by New York Foundation for Senior Citizens against Walter & Samuels. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received four DOB violations, $1,600 in ECB penalties, and $2,250 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
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 17 commercial properties representing 297,519 square feet of the 662,291 square feet. The largest owner is Bill Wolf Petroleum Corp., followed by Carnegie East House and then Charles Coutinho.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.
The majority, or 47 percent of the 662,291 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.
The borrower
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Walter & Samuels owned at least nine commercial properties with five residential units in New York City with 535,197 square feet and a city-determined market value of $126.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $112.1 million in debt, borrowed from Bank of America and Citibank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 82 percent of the 535,197 square feet of built space are office properties, with specialty properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
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