Michael Aryeh signs $7.6M refi for elevator building in Washington Heights

Michael Aryeh through the entity Ez Wadsworth Partners LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Ridgewood Savings Bank valued at $7.6 million for the 30-unit residential elevator building at 130 Wadsworth Avenue in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
The deal closed on April 14, 2022 and was recorded on May 6, 2022. The prior lender was People’s United Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $7.7 million. The property has 35,582 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $213 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 owner bought the property on August 10, 2017, for $11.9 million. The signatory for Michael Aryeh was Michael Aryeh. The signatory for Ridgewood Savings Bank was Marna E. Bernstein.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Michael Aryeh, head officer and Yoel Aryeh, officer. The business entities are Ez Wadsworth Partners Llc and Ez Wadsworth Partners Llc.

The property

The 130 Wadsworth Avenue parcel has frontage of 75 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,500 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.9 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $3,125 in ECB penalties, 36 housing violations, and $7,375 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Washington Heights, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 78 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Washington Heights has 1.3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $366.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 24th highest in Manhattan. For development, Washington Heights has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 19th highest in Manhattan. It had 1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 1 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the nine commercial properties representing 139,679 square feet of the 328,969 square feet. The largest owner is Ashkenazy Acquisition, followed by Robert Rosenberg and then SDG Management. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 37 percent of the 362,953 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Michael Aryeh owned at least 16 commercial properties with 418,215 square feet and a city-determined market value of $51.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $133.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as JPMorgan Chase, Signature Bank, and New York Community Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 63 percent of the 418,215 square feet of built space are residential walkup properties, with residential elevator properties next occupying 37 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 130 Wadsworth Avenue, PincusCo identified eight commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those eight items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was an initial temporary certificate of occupancy issued on February 9, 2021 for the $721,000 renovation of zero-square-foot R-2 building with 35 residential units at 140 Wadsworth Avenue.
Of those eight items, seven were loans above $5 million totaling $197.5 million. The most recent of the seven was Elysee Investment Corp which borrowed $30.7 million from Morgan Stanley secured by the 16,080-square-foot, five-unit mixed-use building (K2) on 1387 St Nicholas Avenue on April 6, 2022.

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