Miklos Vasarhelyi pays $6.7M to Kenneth Morrison for residential elevator in Harlem

Miklos Vasarhelyi through the entity 270 St. Nicholas LLC paid $6.7 million to Kenneth Morrison through the entity 270 St. Nicholas Lemor LLC for the 77-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 270 St Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on December 18, 2024 and was recorded on December 27, 2024. The property has 65,706 square feet of built space and 32,652 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 98,282 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $101 and the price per buildable square foot is $67 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 Kenneth Morrison was Kenneth Morrison. The signatory for Miklos A. Vasarhelyi was Miklos A. Vasarhelyi. The contract date was August 14, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Miklos A. Vasarhelyi purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $5.3 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Kenneth Morrison had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Harrison Rayford, head officer and Kenneth Morrison, officer. The business entities are Metropolitan Property Services Inc and 270 St Nicholas Lemor Llc.

The property

The residential elevator building with 77 residential units in Harlem has 65,706 square feet of built space and 32,652 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 98,282 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 148 feet and is 163 feet deep with a total lot size of 16,326 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4D which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.4 million. The property has 75 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $2.5 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on January 23, 2024, by H&O Capital Funding against Harrison Rayford and Kenneth Morrison. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received 13 housing violations, $1,660 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 15 commercial properties representing 187,654 square feet of the 280,152 square feet. The largest owner is West Harlem Group Assistance, followed by Phipps Houses and then Joint Ownership Entity New York City.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 47,011 square feet. It is a 23-unit, 47,011 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Azimuth Development Group and filed by Guido Subotovsky with plans filed August 26, 2014 and permitted January 24, 2017.

The majority, or 81 percent of the 280,152 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Miklos A. Vasarhelyi owned at least two commercial properties with 36 residential units in New York City with 29,282 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, all identified are walkup properties. They are all located in Manhattan.

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