Renaissance Realty submits $60.6M condo plan in Harlem

Samuel Kairy and Marc Chemtob of Renaissance Realty Group submitted plans with the New York State Attorney General to sell 55 residential condominium units at 370 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan. The project is called Smithsonian Condominium, and the plans were filed November 9, 2022, under the number CD220237. The building will also have seven commercial units.

The condo filing follow plans submitted in 2021, M00560527, to convert the 1920s-era elevator building with 45 residential units, into a building with 55 residential units. The 370 Lenox Avenue parcel has frontage of 117 feet and is 109 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,978 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $9.9 million. The most recent loan totaled $14.5 million and was provided by Bank Hapoalim on June 2, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received four DOB violations, $7,500 in ECB penalties, and $7,800 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 Harlem, the bulk, or 44 percent of the 79.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, Harlem has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $847.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 18th highest in Manhattan. For development, Harlem has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Manhattan. It had 3.3 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 12 of the 22 commercial properties representing 227,815 square feet of the 323,020 square feet. The largest owner is Renaissance Realty Group, followed by Genesis Companies and then NY Residential Works. On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 66,650 square feet. The largest is a 91-unit, 60,278 square-foot residential (R-2) building developed by Taso Vassiliou with plans filed July 20, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a two-unit, 3,186 square-foot residential (R-3) building developed by Kamran Makhani with plans filed December 2, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Samuel Kairy owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 136,519 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $31.6 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank and Bank Hapoalim. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 94 percent of the 136,519 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 6 percent of the space. The bulk, or 94 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 6 percent of the space.

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Marc Chemtob, head officer and Seon Assevero, officer. The business entity is 370 Lenox Llc.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 378 Lenox Avenue, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a loan which Sierra Capital Group and ABJ Properties borrowed $6.1 million from Ridgewood Savings Bank secured by the 9,685-square-foot, 11-unit rental (C7) on 350 Lenox Avenue and one other property on July 15, 2022.

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