Stephanie Lin pays $3.6M for walkup with retail in Gramercy

Stephanie Lin and Jeffrey Yu through the entity 389 Second Avenue LLC paid $3.6 million to the nonprofit entity Tree Of Life Fellowship for the seven-unit property (C7) at 389 Second Avenue in Gramercy, Manhattan.

The defunct Jewish educational nonprofit signed a contract in January 30, 2023, to sell its second of two Manhattan properties. The previous property the nonprofit sold was in Turtle Bay, for $5.25 million. These are the only properties the nonprofit owned.

The Tree of Life Fellowship filed a petition in Manhattan State Supreme Court seeking the court’s approval to sell a significant portion of its assets, which is the required process by law. The signatory for the seller was Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz, president of the Tree of Life Fellowship, who is winding down the nonprofit. LINK

The goal of the Jewish study group, founded in 1967 and led by Jewish scholar Jonathan Levine, was for adults to, “engage seriously in meaningful Jewish worship, study classical and contemporary Jewish texts, and develop leadership skills that would allow its members to further these activities and address these issues with their peers.” The group according to the petition, fell dormant in approximately 1999 and Levine died in 2019. The other property the group owned was 306 East 50th Street (borough, block and lot number 1013420050), which it sold in January 2022 for $5.25 million and became part of the MAG Partners development at 300 East 50th Street.

The deal closed on January 3, 2024 and was recorded on January 17, 2024. The property has 3,980 square feet of built space and 11,381 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 15,360 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $895 and the price per buildable square foot is $232 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 Mayer Rabinowitz was Mayer Rabinowitz. The signatory for Stephanie Lin was Stephanie Lin. The contract date was January 30, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Stephanie Lin had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Mayer Rabinowitz had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Renah Rabinowitz, head officer and Mayer Rabinowitz, officer. The business entity is Tree Of Life Fellowship.

The property

The property with 7 residential units in Gramercy has 3,980 square feet of built space and 11,381 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 15,360 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 19 feet and is 78 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,536 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C1-9A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $3.6 million judgment concerning a leave to sell filed on July 13, 2023, by Tree of Life Fellowship against Stephanie Lin and Jeffrey Yu. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $200 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 15 commercial properties representing 254,439 square feet of the 341,413 square feet. The largest owner is Solil Management, followed by Sma Equities and then Elysee Investment Company.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 72,020 square feet. It is a 108-unit, 72,020 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by SMA Equities and filed by Samy Mahfar with plans filed October 24, 2019 and permitted January 11, 2021.

The majority, or 54 percent of the 341,413 square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link