Slate Property Group pays $120M for 166-unit UWS rental

Slate Property Group through the entity 600 Columbus Avenue Owner LLC paid $120 million to Jerry Kretchmer and Jeff Bliss through the entity Columbus Townhouse Associates for the 166-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 600 Columbus Avenue in Upper West Side, Manhattan. Jerry Kretchmer is part of the original team that developed the building in the 1980s.
The deal closed on May 26, 2023 and was recorded on June 6, 2023. The property has 175,436 square feet of built space and 31,948 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 207,460 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $684 and the price per buildable square foot is $578 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.)

Slate financed the purchase with a $68 million loan from Apollo Global Management.
The signatory for Jerry Kretchmer and Jeff Bliss was Jeffrey Bliss. The signatory for Slate Property Group was Steve Krasman. The Real Deal first reported on the sale in February 2023 noting the brokers were Robert Knakal, Jon Hageman and Hall Oster of JLL. The late Joseph Wasserman, along with Jerome Kretchmer developed these and other urban renewal projects in the 1980s.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Slate Property Group purchased 10 properties in nine transactions for a total of $276.3 million and sold three properties in three transactions for a total of $33.1 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Jerry Kretchmer had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Jerome Kretchner, head officer and Jeff Bliss, officer. The business entities are Elh Mgmt Llc and Columbus Townhouse Associates. The 175,436-square-foot property generated revenue of $9.6 million or $54 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential elevator building with 166 residential units in Upper West Side has 175,436 square feet of built space and 31,948 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 207,460 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 201 feet and is 103 feet deep with a total lot size of 20,746 square feet. The zoning is C1-9 which allows for up to 2 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 $61.6 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 five housing violations and $9,750 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the five commercial properties representing 38,751 square feet of the 475,552 square feet. The identified owner is Stephen Gaynor School.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 87 percent of the 475,552 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Slate Property Group owned at least 48 commercial properties with 2,362 residential units in New York City with 2,359,018 square feet and a city-determined market value of $605.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.1 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Mack Real Estate Group, Signature Bank, and Heitman LLC respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 82 percent of the 2,359,018 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 13 percent of the space. The bulk, or 62 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 19 percent of the space.

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