Menachem Chazanow signs contract to buy dev site from Marcal Group in Rockaway Park

Menachem Chazanow through the entity Crystal At Rockaway Park LLC as the buyer signed a contract with the Marcal Group through the entity Emerald Beach East LLC as the seller for the development site (V0) at 157 Beach 115th Street in Rockaway Park, Queens. No sale price was disclosed.
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 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on February 7, 2024 and was recorded on February 12, 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 signatory for Marcal Group was Mark Caller. The signatory for Menachem Chazanow was Menachem Chazanow. The contract date was November 22, 2023. So far $1 million has been released to seller. The sale price was not disclosed, but in 2018 the property had a $5.3 million loan.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Menachem Chazanow had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Marcal Group purchased five properties in two transactions for a total of $58.5 million and sold five properties in three transactions for a total of $143.3 million over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 32 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 32,000 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $285,000. The most recent loan totaled $8.4 million and was provided by Israel Discount Bank on September 15, 2021.

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 52nd 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 291,017 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 18 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 Marcal Group 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 13 commercial properties with 61 residential units in New York City with 318,842 square feet and a city-determined market value of $59.8 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 five commercial properties in New York City with 6,283 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1 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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