Raymond Chan, Robert Huang, Moon Free Lee pay $21.5M to Argentic in Chelsea

Sun-Man Raymond Chan, Robert Shengchu Huang, and Moon Free Lee through the entity Chelsea 115 LLC paid $21.5 million to Argentic Investment Management through the entity Areit RE Holder LLC for the retail and office building (O6) at 115 Seventh Avenue in Chelsea, Manhattan. This is the retail and office building which Ashkenazy Acquisition bought in 2014 for $57 million and later lost to its lender Argentic Investment Management with the sharp decline in most retail values.
The deal closed on December 22, 2023 and was recorded on January 4, 2024. The property has 42,380 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $507 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 Real Deal reported the buyers plan to building residential condominium units and retail on the ground floor.
The signatory for Argentic Investment Management was John M. Burke. The signatory for Sun-Man Raymond Chan, Robert Shengchu Huang, and Moon Free Lee was Sun-Man Raymond Chan, Robert Shengchu Huang, and Moon Free Lee. The contract date was October 23, 2023.

Argentic Investment Management, as the former lender, acquired title to the property following a foreclosure in 2022, with the transfer valued at $7 million.
The prior borrower was Ashkenazy Acquisition and the prior loan amount was $46.2 million, given in April 2017. Ashkenazy Acquisition bought the building for $57 million in December 2014.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Sun-Man Raymond Chan purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $3.1 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Argentic Investment Management purchased eight properties in two transactions for a total of $27.5 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The office building in Chelsea has 42,380 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 52 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,295 square feet. The zoning is C6-3A which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 7.52 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $20.4 million.

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 five DOB violations, $35,975 in ECB penalties, and $9,885 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Chelsea, The bulk, or 36 percent of the 52.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Chelsea has the 9th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Chelsea has 2.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 19 commercial properties representing 116,546 square feet of the 349,200 square feet. The largest owner is STG Realty Group, followed by S.W. Management and then Argentic Investment Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 9,157 square feet. It is a four-unit, 9,157 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yaniv Garbo with plans filed December 11, 2018 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 55 percent of the 349,200 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Argentic Investment Management owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 42,380 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single office property. It is located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sun-Man Raymond Chan owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 3,600 square feet and a city-determined market value of $591,000. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single retail property. It is located in Queens.

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