Steve Cheung signs $29.8M construction loan for 72-unit project in Greenwood Heights

Steve Cheung through the entity E Home Real Estate 1 LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Popular Bank valued at $29.8 million for the 72-unit development at 179 22nd Street in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn.

There is a new building project for a 72-unit, 61,603 square-foot residential (R-2) building developed by Steve Cheung with plans filed May 22, 2016.
The deal closed on October 31, 2022 and was recorded on February 27, 2023. The prior lender was Hirshmark Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $7 million.

The property has zero square feet of built space and 60,302 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 60,302 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per buildable square foot is $494 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 January 29, 2015, for $11.8 million. The signatory for Steve Cheung was Steve S. Cheung. The signatory for Popular Bank was Sana Khaliq.

The property

The 179 22nd Street parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,017 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1 million.The most recent loan totaled $7 million and was provided by Hirshmark Capital on April 9, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Greenwood Heights, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 16.1 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space. In sales, Greenwood Heights has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $122.3 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Greenwood Heights has 1.6 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 11th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 22 commercial properties representing 47,977 square feet of the 114,115 square feet. The largest owner is Steve S. Cheung, followed by Steve Gross and then Sterling Town Equities.

The majority, or 42 percent of the 112,831 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Steve Cheung owned at least 14 commercial properties in New York City with 11,280 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $7.5 million in debt, borrowed from Stormfield Capital. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 11,280 square feet of built space are A3 properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

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