Retail, mixed-use sell for $5M in Harlem adjacent to Exact Capital’s 72-unit project

The entity 222-226 W 145th Street NYC LLC paid $5 million to Claire Klausner through the entity Dojibak, LLC for the midblock retail building at 222 West 145th Street and the mixed-use building at 226 West 145th Street in Harlem, Manhattan.
The properties are adjacent to a large development site at 210 West 145th Street, where Exact Capital Group filed plans in 2017 to build a 72-unit project. PincusCo reported in December 2020 that Exact signed a contract to buy the site for $6.35 million from a church, then develop the site including a new church space.
The deal for 222-226 West 145th Street closed on May 5, 2022 and was recorded on May 18, 2022. The two properties have 11,009 square feet of built space and 11,336 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 22,342 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $458 and the price per buildable square foot is $226 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 Claire Klausner was Michelle Schmitt. The signatory for 222-226 W 145th Street Nyc LLC was Charles S. Henry.

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 222 West 145th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has no record that the buyer had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Claire Klausner had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The two properties with a total of 11,009 square feet of built space generated revenue of $274,229 per year or $25 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $459.

The property

The 222 West 145th Street parcel has frontage of 40 feet and is 99 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,997 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 $687,000.

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 $300 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 Harlem, the bulk, or 42 percent of the 99.7 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Harlem has 2.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $607.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. For development, Harlem has 2.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.6 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 the tax block of 222 West 145th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 22 commercial properties representing 52,407 square feet of the 364,189 square feet. The largest owner is Robert Seiden, followed by Elysee Investment Company and then Black Spruce Management. There is one active new building construction project totaling 59,305 square feet. It is a 72-unit, 59,305-square-foot R-2 building developed by Michael Callaghan of Exact Capital with plans filed August 23, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 222 West 145th Street, Pincusco identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those three items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit issued on May 26, 2020 for the $1.9 million renovation of 15,993-square-foot R-2 building with 16 residential units at 2488 7th Avenue.
One of those three items was a sale which Alma Realty bought the 18,005-square-foot, 19-unit rental (C7) on 227 West 145th Street and seven other properties for $11.5 million from Prestige Management on August 25, 2020.
One of those three items was a loan which Central Harlem Mutual Housing Association Housing borrowed $11.1 million from The City Of New York secured by the 19,137-square-foot, 24-unit rental (C7) on 201 West 144th Street and four other properties on May 6, 2021.

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