Stellar Management files plans for 105-unit building in Little Italy, capping busy month

Lyle Kamesaki, senior vice president of Stellar Management submitted a new building construction project for a 105-unit, 94,853 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 126 Lafayette Street in Little Italy, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on October 31, 2022 under job number M08022114. It calls for the construction of a 25-story building. The project is described in the filing as: Filing to erect a 25-story mixed-use building, with affordable housing. The architect is Marvel Architects.

This new building filing comes only days after Stellar closed on the $133.3 million purchase of the office building at 220 Fifth Avenue, and after lending $17 million to developers for a 197-unit project in the Bronx.

The property

The 130 Lafayette Street parcel has frontage of 74 feet and is 89 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,295 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-5B which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.4 million.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $1,000 in ECB penalties and $13,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020.

The neighborhood

In Little Italy, the bulk, or 33 percent of the 4.1 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Little Italy has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $135.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 37th highest in Manhattan. For development, Little Italy has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 37th highest in Manhattan. It had 149,212 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 24 commercial properties representing 179,652 square feet of the 467,365 square feet. The largest owner is HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate, followed by Chetrit Group and then Stellar Management. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 94,853 square feet. It is a 105-unit, 94,853 square-foot R-2 building developed by Lyle Kamesaki with plans filed October 31, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Stellar Management owned at least 85 commercial properties in New York City with 10,444,678 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.5 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $2 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Goldman Sachs, New York Community Bank, and Signature Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 10,444,678 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with office properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. The bulk, or 79 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 11 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 130 Lafayette Street, PincusCo identified 12 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those 12 items, two were for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. They were two permits with a total initial cost of $1 million. The most recent of these two items was the permit on December 18, 2020 for a 6,502-square-foot B building with one residential units at 274 Canal Street. Of those 12 items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $49 million. The most recent of the three was Betesh Co. which bought the 20,475-square-foot, five-unit office building (O6) on 412 Broadway for $16 million from Lucile H. Jarvis on February 28, 2022. Of those 12 items, seven were loans above $5 million totaling $277.1 million. The most recent of the seven was Sapir Organization which borrowed $90.1 million from Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders secured by the 121,165-square-foot hotel (H1) on 9 Crosby Street on August 18, 2022.

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