Spatial Equity, Community Access acquire $23M dev site in East Village

Spatial Equity Co. and Community Access through the entity St Emeric Development II Housing Development acquired from the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Brigid and Saint Emeric the development site at 733 East 12th Street in the East Village, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up construction.

The sale was financed with a $23 million purchase money mortgage from the Roman Catholic Church.
The deal closed on July 30, 2024 and was recorded on August 6, 2024. The property has 11,500 square feet of built space and 196,641 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 208,137 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $2,000 and the price per buildable square foot is $110 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 Roman Catholic Church was Kevin Nelan. The signatory for Spatial Equity Co. and Community Access was Christopher Lacovara of Community Access. The contract date was January 17, 2024. This is the western half of the city tax block bounded by Szold Place, 13th Street, Avenue D and 12th Street, referred to in the contract as Site B. Site A with lot number 27, is expected to be sold in a separate transaction between the same parties for $35 million. The buyers plan to build 570 affordable units on the two tax lots, 22 and 27. PincusCo reported on the transaction in June 2024, after it was placed in contract.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Spatial Equity Co. purchased three properties in one transaction for a total of $4.1 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Roman Catholic Church had not purchased any other properties and sold 25 properties in 20 transactions for a total of $183.2 million over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in the East Village has 11,500 square feet of built space and 196,641 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 208,137 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 206 feet and is 293 feet deep with a total lot size of 60,505 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $10.9 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one court case over the past two years. The filing was a $58 million petition seeking court approval filed on June 3, 2024, by Roman Catholic Church, to allow it to sell the land to Spatial Equity Co. and Community Access. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $20,600 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

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

All properties are elevator.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Roman Catholic Church owned at least 144 commercial properties with 886 residential units in New York City with 4,157,136 square feet and a city-determined market value of $740.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 43 percent of the 4,157,136 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with M1 properties next occupying 23 percent of the space. The bulk, or 53 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 26 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Community Access owned at least 15 commercial properties with 359 residential units in New York City with 98,559 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $83.4 million in debt, borrowed from NYS Housing Finance Agency and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 98,559 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. The bulk, or 92 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 8 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Spatial Equity Co. owned at least four commercial properties in New York City with 5,608 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 41 percent of the 5,608 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with specialty properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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