Settlement Housing Fund signs rehab construction loan for $236M NYCHA upgrade in Harlem

Settlement Housing Fund through the entity Harlem River Preservation HDFC, Inc. as borrower signed a rehab construction loan with lender NYC Housing Development Corporation for a $236 million upgrade for three New York City Housing Authority properties including the 376-unit residential walkup building at 44-58 Macombs Place in Harlem, Manhattan, midblock 197-unit residential elevator building at 2621-2653 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard in Harlem, Manhattan, and 116-unit residential elevator building at 2850 Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem, Manhattan.
The deal closed on February 17, 2022 and was recorded on March 10, 2022.The three properties have 430,700 square feet of built space and 916,159 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,346,474 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data.

The signatory for Settlement Housing Fund was Alexa Sewell. The signatory for NYC Housing Development Corporation was Ruth Moreira. This is for the rehabilitation of the NYCHA Harlem River Houses, built in 1937.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 44-58 Macombs Place.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes David Chin, head officer and Dimitri Naylor, officer.

The property

The 44-58 Macombs Place parcel has frontage of 646 feet and is 532 feet deep with a total lot size of 227,608 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $18 million. The property has a city-determined energy rating of 5 out of 100.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received two DOB violations, $1,875 in ECB penalties, and $1,875 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 Harlem, the bulk, or 42 percent of the 99.7 million square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Harlem has 2.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $607.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. For development, Harlem has 2.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.6 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. There were five pre-foreclosure suit filed among other residential walkup buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 44-58 Macombs Place, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the two commercial properties representing 279,790 square feet of the 279,790 square feet. The identified owner is New York City Housing Authority. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 61 percent of the 289,970 square feet of built space are residential walkup buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database, which is not comprehensive for this borrower, currently indicates that Settlement Housing Fund owned at least 11 commercial properties with 439,735 square feet and a city-determined market value of $31.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $106.6 million in debt, borrowed from NYC Housing Development Corporation. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 45 percent of the 439,735 square feet of built space are residential elevator properties, with residential walkup properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 69 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Queens next at 31 percent of the space.

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