Rockaway Capital pays $2.8M to Westwood Realty for residential walkup in Melrose

Rockaway Capital Partners through the entity 368 East 155 LLC paid $2.8 million to Westwood Realty Associates through the entity Ud 155 LLC for the midblock 16-unit residential walkup building at 368 East 155th Street in Melrose, Bronx.
The deal closed on April 27, 2022 and was recorded on June 23, 2022. The property has 8,845 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $310 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 seller bought the property on June 5, 2012, for $846,000. The signatory for Westwood Realty Associates was Steven Vegh. The signatory for Rockaway Capital Partners was Zev Aron Salomon. Steven Vegh is the president at Westwood Realty Associates. Aron Solomon is a principal of Rockaway Capital Partners.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has no record that the buyer Rockaway Capital Partners had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Sam Farber, head officer and Victor Rivera, lessee. The business entities are Bronx Parenting Network Inc and 368 East 155th Street Capital Partners Llc. The 8,845-square-foot property generated revenue of $311,065 or $35 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 368 East 155th Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,500 square feet. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.1 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $400 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 Melrose, the majority, or 51 percent of the 9 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Melrose has the 36th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $10.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Melrose has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 164,342 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 15 commercial properties representing 38,877 square feet of the 127,521 square feet. The largest owner is Cosimo Sette, followed by Sam Farber and then Gloria Frascone Courtlandt Avenue Trust. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

the majority, or 47 percent of the 161,871 square feet of built space are residential walkup buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Rockaway Capital Partners owned at least two commercial properties with 41,000 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $12.5 million in debt, borrowed from Investors Bank and PIMCO. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 56 percent of the 41,000 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 44 percent of the space. The bulk, or 56 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 44 percent of the space.

Surrounding

PincusCo has not identified any commercial real estate items of interest within a 400-foot radius of 368 East 155th Street that occurred over the past 24 months.

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