RBH Group signs contract to buy Jamaica dev site from FBE Limited

New Jersey-based RBH Group through the entity RBH Queens OZ, LLC as buyer signed a contract with FBE Limited through the entity Jamaica Village Owner LLC as seller for the development site at 89-01 165th Street, 89-25 165th Street and at 89-29 165th Street in Jamaica, Queens. Buyers intends to build housing for teachers, as it did in Newark, New Jersey.
The deal closed on October 28, 2022 and was recorded on January 6, 2023. The four parcels have 43,032 square feet of built space and 350,651 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 393,550 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data.
The signatory for FBE Limited was Yehoshua Leib Fruchthandler. The signatory for RBH Group was Ron Beit-Halachmy. This is for the sale of two tax lots entirely and portions of two other tax lots, upon which RBH Group will create the Teachers Village Condominium with a residential unit and a commercial unit. According to an agreement recorded along with the contract, the “Purchaser or an affiliate thereof shall develop, design and construct a new building on the Premises and shall develop, design and construct and convey to Borrower or an affiliate thereof the core and shell of the Commercial Unit of the New Building…” RBH Group developed a Teachers Village in downtown Newark. The purchase price or closing date was not disclosed. FBE bought these parcels as part of a $51.5 million acquisition of eight contiguous tax lots on the block.  This is for all of lots 65 and 85, and portions of lots 30 and 89.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 89-01 165th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer RBH Group had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller FBE Limited purchased 10 properties in three transactions for a total of $122.5 million and sold six properties in four transactions for a total of $299.8 million over the same time period. The four properties with a total of 43,032 square feet of built space generated revenue of $2.5 million per year or $58 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was 0.0.

The property

The 89-01 165th Street parcel has frontage of 189 feet and is 215 feet deep with a total lot size of 40,635 square feet. The zoning is C4-5X which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 5 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7.1 million. The most recent loan totaled $50 million and was provided by Valley National Bank on October 31, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $750 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Jamaica, the bulk, or 30 percent of the 28 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Jamaica has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $357.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 5th highest in Queens. For development, Jamaica has 3.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Queens. It had 3.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 12 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 89-01 165th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 14 commercial properties representing 25,000 square feet of the 175,077 square feet. The two identified owners are Sol Goldman Investments and 89th Jamaica Realty Company LLC.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 49 percent of the 175,077 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with office buildings next occupying 41 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that FBE Limited owned at least 33 commercial properties in New York City with 813,872 square feet and a city-determined market value of $111.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 74 percent of the 813,872 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 8 percent of the space. The bulk, or 72 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 18 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link