Stagg Group signs $12.9M refi for newly built 33-unit rental in Belmont

Stagg Group through the entity 2441 Crotona Avenue LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Berkadia Commercial Mortgage valued at $12.9 million for the newly built 33-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 2441 Crotona Avenue in Belmont/Little Italy, Bronx.
The deal closed on February 7, 2024 and was recorded on February 20, 2024. The prior lender was Popular Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $12 million.
The property has 53,375 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $240 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 August 14, 2020, for $2.5 million. The signatory for Stagg Group was Mark Stagg. The signatory for Berkadia Commercial Mortgage was Megan Mather.

The property

The residential elevator building with 33 residential units in Belmont/Little Italy has 53,375 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 91 feet and is 170 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,556 square feet. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.4 million. The most recent loan totaled $12 million and was provided by Popular Bank on April 28, 2022.

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 23 housing violations, $50 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on November 2, 2023. 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 eight of the 21 commercial properties representing 137,566 square feet of the 297,267 square feet. The largest owner is Stagg Group, followed by Lucille Scheffer and then Leonard Scarola.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 5,758 square feet. It is a nine-unit, 5,758 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Joel Mittelman with plans filed July 27, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 81 percent of the 297,267 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Stagg Group owned at least 168 commercial properties with 3,492 residential units in New York City with 2,461,318 square feet and a city-determined market value of $343.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $750.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, NYC Housing Development Corporation, and Valley National Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 78 percent of the 2,461,318 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 12 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

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