St. Charles seminary signs contract to sell Staten Island property for $5.65M

Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, also known as Scalabrinians, signed a contract to sell its partially landmarked Staten Island property at 209 Flagg Place in Todt Hill for $5.65 million, according to a petition filed in New York State Supreme Court, as part of a required process for a religious group to sell a significant portion of its assets. The buyers are identified as Mohammad Elayyan and Fouad Elayyan. The entire lot is 409,800 square feet.

The religious group under the order Pious Society of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo ran a seminary at the location.

This is at least the second contract to sell in that past several years. In 2018, The Real Deal reported that the religious group was in contract to sell the property for $10.4 million, in a deal that had been in the works since 2006. The buyer was identified as Stone Court Developers.

The property has challenges for development, including that the property, the former estate of architect Ernest Flagg, includes a landmarked mansion, as well as a landmarked tower that was formerly a windmill. The available land is zoned for single-family homes, the article reported.

According to the new petition, “Petitioner entered into a Contract of Sale dated January 27, 2022, as amended, to sell its real property and improvements thereon located at 209 Flagg Place, Staten Island, New York (the “Property”) to 209 Flagg Corp., a New York corporation, whose two shareholders are Mohammad Elayyan and Fouad Elayyan. Mohammad Elayyan is the President and majority shareholder of the corporation (the “Purchaser”) and the sales price is $5,650,000.”

In a similar transaction, the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America signed a contract to sell 300 Genesee Avenue in Eltingville, Staten Island for $4 million to developers Diane Kramer, David Fogel and Michael Kramer through the company Leni Homes LLC, according to a petition filed in Manhattan State Supreme Court seeking approval for the sale.

The property

The specialty building in Todt Hill has 20,900 square feet of built space and 184,409 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 204,899 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has four buildings with frontage of 567 feet and is 693 feet deep with a total lot size of 409,799 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R1-1 which allows for up to 0.5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Individual Landmark. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $16.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received three DOB violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The block

On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 9,123 square feet. The largest is a one-unit, 7,581 square-foot residential (R-3) building submitted by Frank McErlean with plans filed December 21, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 1,542 square-foot residential (R-3) building submitted by Ralph Barone with plans filed September 2, 2021 and permitted January 24, 2022.

The surrounding

This is the first commercial real estate event of interest identified within the 400-foot radius of 209 Flagg Place in the past 24 months.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.