Menachem Chazanow buys $14.4M dev site from Marcal Group in Rockaway Park

Menachem Chazanow through the entity Crystal At Rockaway Park LLC paid $14.4 million to Marcal Group through the entity Emerald Beach East LLC for the development building (V0) at 157 Beach 115th Street in Rockaway Park, Queens.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 76-unit, 84,565 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Marcal Group and filed by Abraham Caller with plans filed April 26, 2022.

The purchase was financed with an $8.4 million loan from Skybrook Capital.

The deal closed on February 29, 2024 and was recorded on April 4, 2024. The property has zero square feet of built space and 128,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 128,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $N/A and the price per buildable square foot is $112 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 Marcal Group was Mark Caller. The signatory for Menachem Chazanow was Menachem Chazanow. The contract date was February 29, 2024. PincusCo reported on the contract.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller Marcal Group purchased five properties in two transactions for a total of $58.5 million and sold six properties in four transactions for a total of $143.3 million over the past two years.

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 received $300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Rockaway Park, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 1.6 million square feet of commercial built space are specialty buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Rockaway Park has the 51st highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Queens with $10.8 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Rockaway Park has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 164,834 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 16 commercial properties representing 3,900 square feet of the 115,189 square feet. The two identified owners are Menachem Chazanow and Jack Safos.
On the tax block, there were four new building construction projects totaling 279,077 square feet. The largest is a 114-unit, 130,955 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Read Property Group and filed by Beach 116 Promenade Llc with plans filed March 1, 2022 and permitted June 9, 2022. The second largest is a 76-unit, 84,565 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Marcal Group and filed by Abraham Caller with plans filed April 26, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 44 percent of the 115,189 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Marcal Group owned at least 12 commercial properties with 61 residential units in New York City with 318,842 square feet and a city-determined market value of $59.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $79.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Valley National Bank, CIT Bank, and Israel Discount Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 85 percent of the 318,842 square feet of built space are office properties, with retail properties next occupying 11 percent of the space. The bulk, or 66 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 30 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Menachem Chazanow owned at least six commercial properties in New York City with 6,283 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $11 million in debt, borrowed from Tideway Capital Funding and Yisroel Y. Leshkowitz. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 6,283 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

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