Reuben Pinner plans 19 units at former bankrupt Chelsea site bought for $10.5M
246 West 18th Street schematic rendering (Credit - Rasesh Doshi architect via DOB)
UPDATED 9:40 a.m., December 9, 2024: Reuben Pinner of Verdevelopment Group submitted a new building construction project for a 19-unit, 27,614 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 246 West 18th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on December 5, 2024 under job number M01135836. It calls for the construction of an 11-story building. The project is described in the filing as: 11-story, 19 dwellings, new building. The architect is Ryde.
The prior owner, Joseph Nabavi, sought to build a 35-unit residential project at the site, but in May 2023 he filed a bankruptcy petition. The new owners, through the entity 246 West 18th Street Land LLC, registered at Pinner’s Brooklyn development company, bought the site through the bankruptcy for $10.5 million.
Joseph Nabavi bought 246 West 18th Street in 1994 and partnered with the owner of 244 West 18th Street to acquire that property, then borrowed $8 million from Emerald Creek Capital. By October 2022 all but three tenants had vacated and all occupied rent stabilized units, and one refused to vacate. The developer could not get construction financing with the holdout tenant, and re-rented the units on short term leases. On April 26, 2023, the holdout agreed to a deal, but not before Emerald called a default in December 2022. 244 West 18th Street is a vacant single room occupancy (SRO) building, and 246 West 18th Street is a 14-unit rental with 13 units occupied. The developers planned to convert the building into condominiums, but Covid and the “inability to relocate certain tenants in 246” impacted the process. The UCC lender sought a sale first on April 27 then rescheduled for May 19, 2023, which led to this bankruptcy filing. On March 3, 2023, Emerald sold the note to SME Capital Ventures.
The signatory for Pinner’s buyer entity was Jean L. Chou. The contract date was July 24, 2024. Joseph Nabavi filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy court in the Southern District through case number 23-10796. The first $16 million of the expected $32 million construction loan is without tax, according to the bankruptcy filings.
246 West 18th Street Zoning pdf
246 West 18th Street
| wdt_ID | floor | comment | description | persons_permitted | occupancy_label | zoning_use | dwelling_units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cellar | WATER METER RM, FIRE PUMP RM, TELECOM RM, ELECTRICAL RM, TRASH COMPACTOR RM, UTILITY RM | Mechanical and/or electrical equipment room | 7 | Factory and Industrial | ||
| 2 | Cellar | ACCESSORY TO DWELLING UNIT ABOVE. NOT USED FOR SLEEPING, EATING OR COOKING | Apartment | N/A | Residential | 0.33 | |
| 3 | Cellar | RECREATIONAL AREA (336SF) | Apartment | 7 | Residential | ||
| 4 | Cellar | BICYCLE STORAGE ROOM (169SF - 12 SPOTS) | Storage of non combustible Materials | 1 | Storage | ||
| 5 | 1 | PART OF ONE (1) CLASS 'A' DWELLING UNIT | Apartment | N/A | Residential | 0.34 | |
| 6 | 1 | RECREATION AREA (964SQFT) | Apartment | 20 | Residential | ||
| 7 | 2 | PART OF ONE (1) CLASS 'A' DWELLING UNIT WITH DOUBLE HEIGH SPCAE OPEN TO BELOW (272 SF - NOT TO BE CLOSED). ONE (1) CLASS 'A' DWELLING UNIT | Apartment | N/A | Residential | 1.33 | |
| 8 | 3 | FOUR (4) CLASS 'A' DWELLING UNITS | Apartment | N/A | Residential | 4.00 | |
| 9 | 4 | TWO (2) CLASS 'A' DWELLING UNIT | Apartment | N/A | Residential | 2.00 | |
| 10 | 5 | TWO (2) CLASS 'A' DWELLING UNIT | Apartment | N/A | Residential | 2.00 |
The property
The walkup building with 39 residential units in Chelsea has 15,371 square feet of built space and 12,322 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 27,679 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has two buildings with frontage of 26 feet and is 92 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,598 square feet. The zoning is C6-2A which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.2 million. The most recent loan totaled $16 million and was provided by SME Capital Ventures on August 5, 2024.
Prior sales and revenue
This property was sold by Joseph Nabavi for $10.5 million to an anonymous buyer through the entity on August 5, 2024.
The 15,371-square-foot property generated revenue of $558,052 or $36 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
Violations and lawsuits
According to city public data, the property has received $18,705 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 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 near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 20th 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 16 commercial properties representing 454,176 square feet of the 576,448 square feet. The largest owner is 310 Kent Ave Suite 408 Brooklyn Registered, followed by HUBB NYC and then Joseph Nabavi. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 27,614 square feet. It is a 19-unit, 27,614 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Reuben Pinner with plans filed December 5, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.
The surrounding
Within a 400-foot radius of 244 West 18 Street, PincusCo identified six commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those six items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $163.2 million. The most recent of the three was Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler registered which bought the 5,834-square-foot, two-unit mixed-use building (K4) on 245 West 18th Street for $12.3 million from William Wegman on November 25, 2024. Of those six items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $300.5 million. The most recent of the three was Atlas Capital Group, Fairstead, Blackstone Group, and Island Capital in which borrowed $272.7 million from Bridge Investment Group secured by the 157,364-square-foot, 202-unit rental (D9) on 238 West 19th Street and 10 other properties on September 12, 2024.
Correction: The development company name was corrected from Pinner Development Group to Verdevelopment Group.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.