Pinky Schwartz in contract to pay $8.25M for 99-unit dev site in Mt Hope

Pinky Schwartz, through the entity 1925 Grand Concourse NY LLC, signed a contract to acquire the development site located at 1925 Grand Concourse, which has an alternate address of 175 Echo Place, in the Mt Hope section of the Bronx for $8.25 million. The seller is New Covenant Faith and Miracle Arena, Inc., a religious corporation that received formal approval for the all-cash transaction from the New York State Attorney General’s office on April 22, 2026. The seller is an affiliate of the New Covenant Christian Center, also in the Bronx.

Ahead of the closing, Pinky Schwartz, who is CEO of the real estate advisory firm Castling Capital Group, has already moved forward with development plans.

Schwartz, who also uses the name Pinchus Schwartz, submitted a new building construction project for a 99-unit, 69,163 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 175 Echo Place in Mt Hope, Bronx. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on March 29, 2026 under job number X01379161. It calls for the construction of a 15-story building. The project is described in the filing as: fifteen (15) story new building.

175 Echo Place

The $8.25 million purchase price is structured to satisfy approximately $6.68 million in existing transaction costs and liabilities. These costs include the payoff of a purchase money loan from 1925 GC LLC, a restoration loan from ELG Restoration, and existing debt held by Carver Federal Savings Bank, MMG Investments, and the Small Business Administration.

Furthermore, the petitioner will utilize the proceeds to satisfy approximately $410,294 in taxes and violations owed to the City of New York, alongside a $123,750 broker commission and $33,000 in state transfer taxes.

The resulting net proceeds of approximately $1.56 million are intended to assist in the development of a church-affiliated K-12 school at 3601 Eastchester Road in the Bronx.

The property

The property in Mt Hope has 13,100 square feet of built space and 52,513 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 65,587 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has three buildings with frontage of 78 feet and is 109 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,895 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $845,000.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

This property was sold for $230,000 on May 15, 2013.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation, $500 in ECB penalties, and $21,100 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Mt Hope, The majority, or 57 percent of the 11 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Mt Hope has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $91.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 17th highest in Bronx. For development, Mt Hope 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 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 14 commercial properties representing 401,904 square feet of the 565,024 square feet. The largest owner is Alexandro D. Lopez, followed by Anthony Gazivoda and then Joseph Rishty. On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 219,101 square feet. The largest is a 114-unit, 124,153 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Billy Schur with plans filed July 3, 2014 and permitted August 12, 2015. The second largest is a 99-unit, 69,163 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Pinky Schwartz and filed by Pinky Schwartz with plans filed March 29, 2026 and it has not been permitted yet.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 175 Echo Place, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those five items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $11.8 million. The most recent of the two was Alexandro D. Lopez which bought the 13,500-square-foot, two-unit office building (O5) on 1960 Creston Avenue for $5.5 million from David Salamon, Jody Vorchheimer, and Linda Salamon on April 7, 2025. Of those five items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $44.5 million. The most recent of the three was Berel Weinberger, Sarah Weinberger, Maurice Mosseri, and Zalman Brody in which borrowed $22 million from Standard Insurance Company secured by the 37,960-square-foot, 40-unit rental (C1) on 1975 Creston Avenue on November 19, 2025.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.