Pinnacle Group signs $20.3M refi loan with CenterSquare for specialty in Upper West Side

Pinnacle Group through the entity 142 West 81st Street LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender CenterSquare Investment Management through the entity Rcg Lv Debt VII Reit, LLC valued at $20.3 million for the specialty building (M1) at 140 West 81st Street in Upper West Side, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 21, 2022 and was recorded on October 31, 2022. The prior lender was S3 Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20 million. The property has 10,386 square feet of built space and 15,134 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,544 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $1,954 and the price per buildable square foot is $794 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 January 20, 2016, for $6.7 million. The signatory for Pinnacle Group was Joel Wiener. The signatory for CenterSquare Investment Management was Dean C. Ravosa.

The property

The 140 West 81st Street parcel has frontage of 62 feet and is 102 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,386 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.1 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $20 million money judgment concerning construction filed on May 12, 2022, by Erik Ekstein and Ekstein Development against Joel Wiener and Pinnacle Group. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received five DOB violations, $2,250 in ECB penalties, and $3,150 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by 142 WEST 81ST STREET LLC to create 6 residential units in a building at 142 West 81st Street in Upper West Side, Manhattan, called 142 West 81st Street Condominium that has a $43 million sellout, according to an June 25, 2021 submission to the New York State Attorney General.The principal of the sponsor, 142 WEST 81ST STREET LLC, was Erik Ekstein.

The neighborhood

In the Upper West Side, the majority, or 59 percent of the 52.9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Upper West Side has the 4th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Upper West Side has 2.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.4 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 34 commercial properties representing 110,084 square feet of the 295,198 square feet. The largest owner is Pablo Llorente, followed by Aron Forem and then Rudd Realty.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 81 percent of the 295,198 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 13 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Pinnacle Group owned at least 147 commercial properties in New York City with 7,728,202 square feet and a city-determined market value of $526.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $901.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as New York Community Bank, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders, and Axos Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 77 percent of the 7,728,202 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 23 percent of the space. The bulk, or 36 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 22 percent of the space.

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