Spencer Equity signs $36.4M refi with Berkadia for two rentals in Highbridge

Joel Gluck’s Spencer Equity Group through the entity Alliance Housing II Associates LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Berkadia Commercial Mortgage valued at $36.4 million for two properties with 174 residential units including the 102-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 1116 Woodycrest Avenue and the 72-unit residential walkup building (C9) at 1132 Nelson Avenue in Highbridge, Bronx.
The deal closed on July 25, 2025 and was recorded on August 14, 2025. The prior lender was Signature Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $36 million.The two properties have 145,940 square feet of built space and 276,609 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 422,232 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $249 and the price per buildable square foot is $86 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 Spencer Equity Group was Joel Gluck . The signatory for Berkadia Commercial Mortgage was Megan Mather .

Prior sales and revenue

The owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is Dov Guttman, head officer. The business entity is Alliance Housing. The two properties with a total of 145,940 square feet of built space generated revenue of $3.7 million per year or $25 per square foot.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received 31 housing violations and $2,550 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 the tax block of 1116 Woodycrest Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the nine commercial properties representing 249,224 square feet of the 258,824 square feet. The largest owner is Dov Guttman, followed by Paulin Lumaj and then Gilbane Development.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 28,720 square feet. The largest is a 24-unit, 20,921 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Kobi Shashua and filed by Kobi Shashua with plans filed February 22, 2022 and permitted May 23, 2022. The second largest is a 11-unit, 7,798 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Gjergj Lunaj with plans filed July 14, 2021 and permitted November 8, 2023.

The majority, or 96 percent of the 258,824 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 4 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Spencer Equity Group owned at least 10 commercial properties with 724 residential units in New York City with 484,333 square feet and a city-determined market value of $56.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $125.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Sterling National Bank, Santander Bank, and Signature Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 90 percent of the 484,333 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. The bulk, or 94 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 6 percent of the space.

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