Red Apple Group pays $22.5M for building adjacent to Chelsea dev site

John Catsimatidis’s Red Apple Group through the entity 253 West 24th Street, LLC paid $22.5 million to the Congregation of Divine Providence through the entity The Jeanne D’Arc Residence for the specialty building (N2) at 253 West 24th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan.

The deal closed on October 29, 2024 and was recorded on November 27, 2024. The property has 59,250 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $379 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 signatory for Congregation of Divine Providence was Barbara Rohe. The signatory for Red Apple Group was John Catsimatidis. The contract date was August 2, 2023.

Congregation of Divine Providence is also known as Sisters of Divine Providence.

PincusCo reported on this when the contract was disclosed in a state filing related to the sale by nonprofits.

John Catsimatidis’s Red Apple Group signed a contract to pay $22.5 million to the Jeanne D’Arc Residence for the 59,250-square-foot single-room occupancy building at 253 West 24th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan, adjacent to Red Apple Group’s 280 Eighth Avenue project. The seller, formerly known as the Jeanne D’Arc Home for Friendless French Girls, was formed in 1896 and the Sisters of the Roman Catholic Congregation of Divine Providence has been on the site since 1898.

The property was subject to a state court action, 157692/2021, that ultimately removed a deed restriction from 1896 for a parcel that formed a portion of the land used to build this building, that restricted the use of the land to charity for French-speaking girls, and if it was not, the land would revert to the former owner or her heirs. The restriction said the property was, “to care for and promote the welfare of friendless French-speaking girls, to surround them with wholesome influences, to provide a temporary home for them while seeking employment, and to aid them in securing employment.”

In 1913 and 1914 the then-owners sought to have all possible heirs to that 1896 seller, Catherine T. Smith, sign quitclaim deeds, but the effort was not complete, so this filing was required. Robert Van Rhijn, an heir and resident of Connecticut, objected to clearing the deed.  The congregation said in a motion, “Robert’s reversionary interest should be extinguished as a result of his ancestors’ failure to record a declaration of intention to preserve the reversionary limitation pursuant to RPL § 345. Therefore, any estate or interest in the Premises which Robert claims or may claim in the Premises is ineffective.” A judge ruled on October 26, 2022 in favor of the congregation, thus extinguishing any rights of the heirs.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Red Apple Group had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Congregation of Divine Providence had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Sr. Barbara Rohe, head officer and Sr. Margaret Stallmeyer, officer. The business entities are Parish Property Management and Jeanne D’Arc Residence, Inc.

The property

The specialty building in Chelsea has 59,250 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 88 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,271 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 $8.9 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 one DOB violation, $1,450 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation 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 35 percent of the 52.5 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 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Chelsea has 1.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 19th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 17 commercial properties representing 494,835 square feet of the 530,199 square feet. The largest owner is City Of New York, followed by Sabet Group and then S.W. Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 58,021 square feet. It is a 64-unit, 58,021 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Red Apple Group and filed by Maria Rosenfeld with plans filed May 25, 2022 and permitted December 21, 2023.

The majority, or 76 percent of the 530,199 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 13 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Red Apple Group owned at least seven commercial properties in New York City with 37,767 square feet and a city-determined market value of $18.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $327.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and M&T Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 37,767 square feet of built space are retail properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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