Pears brothers pay $22.5M to Tahl Propp for 87 unsold condos in Harlem

The billionaire Pears brothers through the entity Jober Upper Fifth Ave. LLC paid $22.5 million to Tahl Propp Equities through the entity 1325 Fifth Avenue LLC for 87 unsold condominium units at 1330 Fifth Avenue and 1325 Fifth Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan.
The Pears brothers of England have been one of the most active buyers of unsold cooperative and condo units in the city over the past several years.
The deal closed on March 13, 2023 and was recorded on March 21, 2023. The 87 units have 89,188 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $252 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 Tahl Propp Equities was Joseph A. Tahl. The signatory for the Pears brothers was Stuart Berg. The buyer entity is in care of management firm MD Squared Property Group. The Pears brothers use the company names Tremada Properties and William Pears Group.

Mark Zborovsky of Mark Zborovsky, LLC, was the broker on the transaction, and declined to comment.

Development

On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by 1325 Fifth Avenue LLC to create 150 residential units and 13 commercial units at 1325 and 1330 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, called The Fifth Avenue that has a $160.1 million sellout, according to an March 13, 2017 submission to the New York State Attorney General.The principals of the sponsor, 1325 Fifth Avenue LLC, were Rodney Propp and Joseph Tahl.

The block

On the tax block of 1330 Fifth Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 10 commercial properties representing 261,745 square feet of the 290,239 square feet. The largest owner is Metropolitan Realty Group, followed by Larry Lux and then City of New York.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 53 percent of the 272,620 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 39 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Tahl Propp Equities owned at least 17 commercial properties in New York City with 1,732,503 square feet and a city-determined market value of $187.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $332.8 million in debt, borrowed from Wilmington Trust and Bellwether Enterprise. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 86 percent of the 1,732,503 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

Direct link to Acris document. link