Steven Chera signs $27M loan with Republic Bank for retail in Fordham Manor

Steven Chera through the entity Fordham Chera Acquisition LLC as borrower signed a loan with lender Republic Bank valued at $27 million for the retail building (K2) at 203 East Fordham Road in Fordham Manor, Bronx.
The deal closed on June 28, 2022 and was recorded on July 14, 2022. The property has 22,842 square feet of built space and 26,877 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 49,708 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $944 and the price per buildable square foot is $434 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.)

Prior sales and revenue

The 22,842-square-foot property generated revenue of $2.3 million or $100 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 203 East Fordham Road parcel has frontage of 158 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 14,450 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $12.5 million.The most recent loan totaled $24.6 million and was provided by Ladder Capital on March 17, 2021.

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 $2,500 in ECB penalties and $4,850 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 Fordham Manor, the bulk, or 33 percent of the 20.4 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Manor has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $164.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Fordham Manor has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Bronx. It had 1.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 21 commercial properties representing 322,885 square feet of the 689,360 square feet. The largest owner is Jenel Management, followed by Steven Chera and then Harbor Group.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 37 percent of the 692,584 square feet of built space are residential walkup buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 203 East Fordham Road, PincusCo identified 10 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those 10 items, three were for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. They were two permit applications with a total initial cost of $7.1 million and one permit with a total initial cost of $1,000,000. The most recent of these three items was the filing on April 13, 2022 for a 74,897-square-foot E building with zero residential units at 2510 Valentine Avenue.
Of those 10 items, seven were loans above $5 million totaling $112 million. The most recent of the seven was Jem Realty Management which borrowed $55 million from Signature Bank secured by the 97,832-square-foot, 73-unit office building (O5) on 2488 Grand Concourse on June 28, 2022.

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