Rivky Brach signs $31M construction loan with BridgeCity for 123-unit development in Norwood

Rivky Brach through the entity 3547 Webster Tower LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender BridgeCity Capital through the entity BCC 3547 Webster LLC valued at $31 million for two properties including the specialty building (I3) at 3547 Webster Avenue in Norwood, Bronx and industrial building (G2) at 3551 Webster Avenue in Norwood, Bronx.
On these lots, there are is an active new building construction project, X00709422, for an 123-unit, 87,765-square-foot R-2 building submitted by Yoel Landau with plans filed April 8, 2022 and permitted May 31, 2022.
The loan closed on August 2, 2024 and was recorded on August 15, 2024.
The signatory for Rivky Brach was Rivky Brach. The signatory for BridgeCity Capital was Louis Lebovits.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received three DOB violations, $3,025 in ECB penalties, and $5,325 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Norwood, The bulk, or 48 percent of the 17.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, Norwood has the 29th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $33.6 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Norwood has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 408,735 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 3547 Webster Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of 15 of the 29 commercial properties representing 866,543 square feet of the 1,398,872 square feet. The largest owner is City of New York, followed by Michael Goldberg and then Rivky Brach.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 95,608 square feet. The largest is a 88-unit, 73,121 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yoel Landau with plans filed April 8, 2022 and permitted May 31, 2022. The second largest is a 56-unit, 22,487 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Kaushik Patel with plans filed December 2, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 79 percent of the 1.4 million square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Rivky Brach owned at least four commercial properties with 25 residential units in New York City with 56,096 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $45.5 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank and Ponce Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 53 percent of the 56,096 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with elevator properties next occupying 30 percent of the space. The bulk, or 63 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 37 percent of the space.

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