Oculus Realty, Firebird Grove pay $9.6M to Willowick Properties for 16-unit walkup in Nolita

The billionaire-backed Oculus Realty and Firebird Grove through the entity OR 239 Mulberry, LLC paid $9.6 million to Willowick Properties through the entity 239 Mulberry LLC for the midblock 16-unit residential walkup building at 239 Mulberry Street in Nolita, Manhattan.
The deal closed on April 7, 2022 and was recorded on April 19, 2022.The property has 15,120 square feet of built space and 738 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 15,868 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $635 and the price per buildable square foot is $605 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 seller bought the property on September 12, 2012, for $4.6 million. The signatory for Willowick Properties was Steven Gautier-Winther. The signatory for Oculus Realty and Firebird Grove was Adam J. Semler. PincusCo identified Oculus Realty acquisitions totaling $184 million, prior to this purchase.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer Oculus Realty, a firm founded in 2020 that has the backing of California billionaire Nicholas Berggruen, had purchased 35 New York City multifamily buildings with 305 residential units through 25 transactions totaling $183.6 million, according to a PincusCo Media analysis of public records.
The seller Willowick Properties purchased two properties in one transactions for a total of $22.9 million and sold three properties in two transactions for a total of $43.6 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Steven Gautier, head officer and Cristian Gonzalez, site manager. The business entity is 239 Mulberry Llc. The 15,120-square-foot property generated revenue of $557,274 or $37 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 239 Mulberry Street parcel has frontage of 26 feet and is 99 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,636 square feet. The zoning is C6-2 which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received 25 housing violations and $400 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 Nolita, the bulk, or 46 percent of the 3.3 million square feet of commercial built space are residential walkup buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Nolita has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $142.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Nolita has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 13,511 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 0.41 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 20 commercial properties representing 156,440 square feet of the 370,675 square feet. The largest owner is Abington Properties, followed by Hakimian Organization and then Vintage Group. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 44 percent of the 442,987 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 42 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 239 Mulberry Street, PincusCo identified 12 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those 12 items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $26.2 million. The most recent of the two was Orange Bridge LLC which bought one condo unit in the 4,160-square-foot, eight-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 224 Mulberry Street for $17.3 million from Fnyt Property Ii LLC on February 1, 2022.
Of those 12 items, 10 were loans above $5 million totaling $202 million. The most recent of the 10 was Oculus Realty which borrowed $6.8 million from Signature Bank secured by the 10,995-square-foot, 23-unit rental (C7) on 240 Mulberry Street on December 1, 2021.

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