Robert Lumaj pays $7.9M for Pelham Parkway dev site

Developer Robert Lumaj through the entity 2111 White Plains LLC, paid $7.9 million to the Sopher Group for a development site with neighboring air rights totaling 80,000 buildable square feet at 211 White Plains Road at the corner of Maran Place, in Pelham Parkway, the Bronx.
The sale closed on August 13, 2024, after going into contract on May 30, 2024. The transaction has not yet been recorded in city records.

In 2018, the prior owner, Jonathan Sopher of the Sopher Group under the entity Maran Place LLC submitted a new building construction project for a 122-unit, 104,881 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 2111 White Plains Road in Pelham Parkway, Bronx. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on December 17, 2018 under job number 210178920. The city approved the plan but did not give it permits.

Landair Property Advisors, led by partners Alexandre Goulet and Anand Melwani, was the broker on the transaction representing both buy and sell sides.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 126 feet and is 75 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,678 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $692,000.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Pelham Parkway, The majority, or 84 percent of the 6.1 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space. In sales, Pelham Parkway has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $7.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 45th highest in Bronx. For development, Pelham Parkway has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 40th highest in Bronx. It had 56,692 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 0.94 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the six commercial properties representing 321,990 square feet of the 450,990 square feet. The largest owner is Parkoff Organization, followed by Related Companies and then Sopher Group. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 104,881 square feet. It is a 122-unit, 104,881 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Jonathan Sopher with plans filed December 17, 2018 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sopher Group owned at least 37 commercial properties in New York City with 389,447 square feet and a city-determined market value of $79.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 69 percent of the 389,447 square feet of built space are retail properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. The bulk, or 82 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Manhattan next at 18 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 2127 White Plains Road, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a loan which Parkoff Organization borrowed $14.3 million from New York Community Bank secured by the 132,000-square-foot, 106-unit rental (D1) on 2084 Bronx Park East on August 26, 2022.

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