Sioni Group pays $26.8M to Silk & Halpern for office in Grand Central

Sioni Group through the entity 6 E 45 LLC paid $26.8 million to Silk & Halpern Realty Associates through the entity Silk And Halpern – 45th Realty Associates for the office building (O6) at 6 East 45th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan.
The families affiliated with Silk & Halpern have owned the building since at least the 1970s.
The deal closed on September 8, 2023 and was recorded on September 18, 2023. The property has 79,290 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $338 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 Silk & Halpern Realty Associates was Richard Halpern. The signatory for Sioni Group was Payman Yadidi. The contract date was June 8, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Sioni Group had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Silk & Halpern Realty Associates had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The office building in Grand Central has 79,290 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,019 square feet. The zoning is C5-2.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $13.2 million.

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 one DOB violation, $6,250 in ECB penalties, and $7,450 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 Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 43.5 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 2.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $868.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 15th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central has 2.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 11th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were two 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 eight of the 13 commercial properties representing 927,745 square feet of the 1,770,975 square feet. The largest owner is RFR Holding, followed by Brause Realty and then Boston Properties.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 750,400 square feet. It is a 750,400 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Elizabeth Reilly with plans filed August 5, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 90 percent of the 1.8 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 9 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Silk & Halpern Realty Associates owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 187,968 square feet and a city-determined market value of $50.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $22.8 million in debt, borrowed from Apple Bank for Savings. Within the portfolio, all identified are office properties. They are all located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sioni Group owned at least six commercial properties in New York City with 517,661 square feet and a city-determined market value of $172.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $107 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank and Valley National Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 517,661 square feet of built space are office properties, with specialty properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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