Sentry Realty, 60 Guilders pay $90.5M to Vanbarton for office in Grand Central, down from $180M

The Mamrout family’s newly formed entity Sentry Realty, in partnership with 60 Guilders, through the entity 292 Madison Investor LLC paid $90.5 million to the Vanbarton Group through the entity 292 Madison NY LLC for the office building (O4) at 292 Madison Avenue in Grand Central, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.

Ouni Mamrout, also known as Alen Mamrout, who leads the fashion manufacturing and licensing company American Exchange Group, has been an active buyer, including buying a note at 1375 Broadway, and paying $33 million in a partnership for 260 West 36th Street.
The deal closed on October 30, 2024 and was recorded on November 12, 2024. The property has 170,230 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $531 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 Vanbarton Group was Damiano Buffa. The signatory for Sentry Realty and 60 Guilders was Joseph Mamrout. The contract date was October 30, 2024.

Sentry Realty LLC was formed on October 23, 2024, according to state corporation records.

Vanbarton Group bought the office building in 2016 for $180 million, composed of $90 million for the fee and $90 million for the leasehold. The leasehold was then terminated.

At the time of this October sale, there was $84 million remaining outstanding on the $92.5 million loan originated in October 2019.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Sentry Realty had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Vanbarton Group had not purchased any other properties and sold four properties in four transactions for a total of $387.7 million over the same time period.

The property

The office building in Grand Central has 170,230 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 95 feet and is 96 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,250 square feet. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $78.3 million. The most recent loan totaled $92.5 million and was provided by Deutsche Bank on October 22, 2019.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $3,975 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on August 22, 2017. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 44.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 3.3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $827.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central is the 9th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 12 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 19 commercial properties representing 2,365,691 square feet of the 2,731,781 square feet. The largest owner is Sl Green Realty, followed by Rfr Holding and then Eretz Group.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 94 percent of the 2.7 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 5 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Vanbarton Group owned at least 19 commercial properties with 1,113 residential units in New York City with 2,401,458 square feet and a city-determined market value of $874.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.4 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Blackstone Group, Blackstone Mortgage Trust, and New York Life Insurance Company respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 69 percent of the 2,401,458 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. The bulk, or 92 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 8 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that 60 Guilders owned at least four commercial properties with 300 residential units in New York City with 313,828 square feet and a city-determined market value of $71.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $121 million in debt, borrowed from Athene Annuity And Life Company and Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Within the portfolio, all identified are elevator properties. The bulk, or 68 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 32 percent of the space.

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