Michael Heletz’s Excel Development plans 71 units in Hell’s Kitchen

Michael Heletz, owner of Excel Development Group submitted a new building construction project for a 71-unit, 81,503 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 539 West 54th Street in Hell’S Kitchen, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on May 2, 2023 under job number M00856242. It calls for the construction of a 21-story building. The project is described in the filing as: application filed to construct a 21-story with cellar mixed-use building of residential community facility. The architect is GF55 Architects.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 125 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,551 square feet. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.7 million. The most recent loan totaled $19.5 million and was provided by Bank Leumi on December 28, 2021.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York for $25 million to Excel Development Group on December 28, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received two DOB violations and $6,560 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Hell’s Kitchen, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 40.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Hell’s Kitchen has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Manhattan. For development, Hell’s Kitchen is the 9th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.1 million 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 three of the seven commercial properties representing 653,979 square feet of the 937,024 square feet. The largest owner is Clinton Housing Association, followed by Excel Development Group and then New York City Housing Authority. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 81,503 square feet. It is a 71-unit, 81,503 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Excel Development Group and filed by Michael Heletz with plans filed May 2, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 547 West 54 Street, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. One of those three items was a sale which Namdar Realty Group, Empire Capital Holdings, and Khashy Eyn bought one condo unit in the 141,934-square-foot, 914-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 770 11th Avenue for $100.1 million from Invesco Real Estate on April 11, 2023. Of those three items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $89.6 million. The most recent of the two was Namdar Realty Group, Empire Capital Holdings, and Khashy Eyn in which borrowed $77.4 million from Deutsche Bank secured by one condo unit in the 141,934-square-foot, 914-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 770 11th Avenue on April 11, 2023.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.