Simone Development pays $11.2M to LCOR for office condo in Murray Hill

Simone Development Companies through the entity 225 East 34 Realty LLC paid $11.2 million to LCOR through the entity Neuro Real Estate, LLC for an office condo at 225 East 34th Street in Murray Hill, Manhattan.
The deal closed on March 28, 2022 and was recorded on April 11, 2022. The property has 12,586 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $885 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 October 19, 2007, for $12.8 million. The signatory for LCOR was Bruce Cohen. The signatory for Simone Development Companies was Joseph Simone.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer Simone Development Companies purchased five properties in two transactions for a total of $34.6 million and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $8.7 million over the past 24 months.
The seller LCOR purchased two properties in one transactions for a total of $4.5 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The 225 East 34th Street parcel has a total lot size of 12,586 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on August 8, 2012. 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 Murray Hill, the majority, or 66 percent of the 15.8 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space. In sales, Murray Hill has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $89.5 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Murray Hill has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 95,534 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 0.60 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 26 commercial properties representing 19,718 square feet of the 256,421 square feet. The largest owner is Lalezarian Properties, followed by Parkoff Organization and then Solil Management. There is one active new building construction project totaling 166,917 square feet. It is a 229-unit, 166,917-square-foot R-2 building developed by Kevin Lalezarian with plans filed June 27, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 65 percent of the 415,714 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that LCOR owned at least 11 commercial properties with 159,165 square feet and a city-determined market value of $39 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $103.7 million in debt, borrowed from At Wildcats Finance LLC. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 94 percent of the 159,165 square feet of built space are residential elevator properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 6 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 225 East 34th Street, PincusCo identified 13 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those 13 items, two were in new building development. There were two new building permits. The most recent of these two items was a permit on January 4, 2022 for a 166,917-square-foot R-2 building with 229 residential units at 509 3rd Avenue.
Of those 13 items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit issued on November 13, 2020 for the $1.1 million renovation of 5,445-square-foot R-2 building with nine residential units at 214 East 35th Street.
One of those 13 items was a sale which Aya bought the 6,078-square-foot, 10-unit rental (C1) on 237 East 33rd Street and one other property for $7.9 million from Barry Leon on March 4, 2022.
Of those 13 items, nine were loans above $5 million totaling $275.3 million. The most recent of the nine was Slate Property Group which borrowed $22.2 million from Signature Bank secured by the 6,980-square-foot, five-unit mixed-use building (S4) on 493 3rd Avenue and two other properties on January 6, 2022.

Direct link to Acris document. link