SMA Equities signs $17.4M refi with Societe Generale for two LES walkups

Sassan Mahfar’s SMA Equities signed two refinance loans totaling $17.4 million with Societe Generale for two residential walkup buildings in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The prior debt was approximately $16 million provided by Santander Bank.

In the first, SMA Equities through the entity 303 Brow LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Societe Generale through the entity Societe Generale Financial Corporation valued at $9.7 million for the 22-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 305 Broome Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan.
The deal closed on November 3, 2023 and was recorded on November 20, 2023. The prior lender was Santander Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $9 million.The property has 18,055 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $537 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 September 18, 2008, for $6.3 million. The signatory for SMA Equities was Sassan Mahfar. The signatory for Societe Generale was Kevin Kelley.

SMA Equities through the entity 131 Orchard Sm, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Societe Generale through the entity Societe Generale Financial Corporation valued at $7.7 million for the 16-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 131 Orchard Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan. The deal closed on November 3, 2023 and was recorded on November 20, 2023. The prior lender was Santander Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $6.8 million.The property has 9,282 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $829 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 January 3, 2012, for $4 million. The signatory for SMA Equities was Sassan Mahfar. The signatory for Societe Generale was Kevin Kelley.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Tamer Mohamed, head officer and Sassan Mahfar, officer. The business entities are Sma Equities and Sm 303 Broome, Llc.

The property

The residential walkup building with 22 residential units in Lower East Side has 18,055 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 43 feet and is 87 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,834 square feet. The zoning is C4-4A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 4 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7.3 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 22 housing violations and $560 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 seven of the 22 commercial properties representing 81,240 square feet of the 213,223 square feet. The largest owner is Zi Cheng Realty Corp., followed by Witnick Real Estate Partners and then SMA Equities.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 25,007 square feet. The largest is a 20-unit, 17,440 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Marc Straus with plans filed September 7, 2017 and permitted December 17, 2021. The second largest is a four-unit, 7,567 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Winnie Lee with plans filed January 14, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 71 percent of the 213,223 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that SMA Equities owned at least 14 commercial properties with 319 residential units in New York City with 361,044 square feet and a city-determined market value of $96 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 70 percent of the 361,044 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with office properties next occupying 11 percent of the space. The bulk, or 78 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 22 percent of the space.

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