Metropolitan Realty signs $37.1M refi with Greystone & Co. for East Harlem rentals

Metropolitan Realty Group through the entity Jamie’S Place Housing Development Fund Corp. as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Greystone & Co. through the entity Greystone Servicing Company LLC valued at $37.1 million for five properties with 127 residential units including the 33-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 101/109 East 119th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan, 35-unit residential elevator building (D3) at 127/135 East 117th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan, and 20-unit residential elevator building (D9) at 115/117 East 119th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan.
The deal closed on September 17, 2024 and was recorded on September 23, 2024. The prior lender was Lasfin Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Series 2023 which held debt that had an original loan amount of $37 million.
The five properties have 120,572 square feet of built space and 38,890 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 144,286 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $307 and the price per buildable square foot is $257 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 Metropolitan Realty Group was Scott Jaffee. The signatory for Greystone & Co. was Tracy Terry.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Scott Jaffee, head officer and Melania Cinque, officer. The business entity is Jamies’ Place II Llc.

The property

The residential elevator building with 33 residential units in East Harlem has has frontage of 90 feet and is 75 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,800 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R10 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 $5.4 million. The most recent loan totaled $37 million and was provided by Signature Bank on June 15, 2021. The property has 33 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received five housing violations and $1,350 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 the tax block of 101/109 East 119th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 16 commercial properties representing 620,484 square feet of the 630,126 square feet. The largest owner is Nyc Department Of Education, followed by Muss Development and then New York City Housing Authority.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 73,253 square feet. It is a 57-unit, 73,253 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Matthew Degen with plans filed November 23, 2021 and permitted May 25, 2022.

The majority, or 47 percent of the 630,126 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 43 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Metropolitan Realty Group owned at least 54 commercial properties with 2,827 residential units in New York City with 2,653,038 square feet and a city-determined market value of $448.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $386.4 million in debt, with top three lenders as Greystone & Co., Lument, and Signature Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 86 percent of the 2,653,038 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 67 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 22 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link