Pillar Property, charter school sign $19M refi for new school in Mt Eden

Pillar Property Management and Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Self-Help Credit Union valued at $19 million for the specialty building (W3) at 1366 Cromwell Avenue in Mt Eden, Bronx.
The deal closed on March 27, 2025 and was recorded on April 2, 2025. The property has 50,959 square feet of built space and 9,079 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 60,061 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $372 and the price per buildable square foot is $316 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 owner bought the property on November 15, 2018, for $2.5 million. The signatory for Pillar Property Management and Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School was Kiumarz Geula and Michael Carrion. The signatory for Self-Help Credit Union was Allison Moy.

The property

The specialty building in Mt Eden has 50,959 square feet of built space and 9,079 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 60,061 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 131 feet and is 79 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,977 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $529,000. The most recent loan totaled $16 million and was provided by Bank of Hope on December 23, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $1,250 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, X00613043, for a 50,343 square-foot E building. The project was submitted by Kiumarz Geula and filed by Kiumarz Geula with plans filed November 23, 2021 and permitted December 16, 2022.

The neighborhood

In Mt Eden, The majority, or 51 percent of the 10.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Mt Eden has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $86.3 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Mt Eden has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 686,509 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the nine commercial properties representing 171,514 square feet of the 204,528 square feet. The largest owner is Cubesmart, followed by Shadan Harooni and then Steve West.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 50,343 square feet. It is a 50,343 square-foot educational (E) building submitted by Kiumarz Geula and filed by Kiumarz Geula with plans filed November 23, 2021 and permitted December 16, 2022.

The majority, or 73 percent of the 204,528 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Pillar Property Management owned at least nine commercial properties in New York City with 204,041 square feet and a city-determined market value of $25.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $118.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as Dime Community Bank, Bank of Hope, and Bank of America respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 204,041 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with office properties next occupying 38 percent of the space. The bulk, or 49 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Queens next at 38 percent of the space.

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