Simone Development signs $9.6M refi for office in Westchester Square

Simone Development Companies through the entity 2510 Westchester Avenue Associate LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Webster Bank valued at $9.6 million for the office building (O2) at 2510 Westchester Avenue in Westchester Square, Bronx.
The deal closed on February 29, 2024 and was recorded on March 19, 2024. The prior lender was Blackstone Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $11 million.
The property has 58,566 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $163 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 owner bought the property on December 18, 2008, for $5.5 million. The signatory for Simone Development Companies was Joseph Simone. The signatory for Webster Bank was Joseph Giamartino.

The property

The office building in Westchester Square has 58,566 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 222 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 46,950 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $8.7 million. The most recent loan totaled 0.0 and was provided by Blackstone Group on December 14, 2023.

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 $5,000 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Westchester Square, The bulk, or 30 percent of the 5.3 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with office buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Westchester Square has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $80.5 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Westchester Square has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 275,419 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the nine commercial properties representing 68,816 square feet of the 99,714 square feet. The two identified owners are Simone Development Companies and Christian Fellowship Ministry.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 61 percent of the 99,714 square feet of built space are office buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Simone Development Companies owned at least 20 commercial properties in New York City with 310,515 square feet and a city-determined market value of $45.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $273.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank of America, Union Labor Life Insurance Company, and Metropolitan Commercial Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 45 percent of the 310,515 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with retail properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

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