Steven Berger signs $20.5M refi loan with Flagstar Bank for new charter school in Elmhurst

Steven Berger through the entity 7920 Realty LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Flagstar Bank valued at $20.5 million for the Elm Community Charter School at 79-20 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens.
On the lot, there was one new building construction project for a 40,066 square-foot school (E) building. The project was developed by David Levitan with plans filed November 22, 2019 and permitted October 28, 2020.
The deal closed on January 24, 2023 and was recorded on January 31, 2023. The prior lender was Metropolitan Commercial Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $16.9 million.

The owner bought the property on June 12, 2014, for $3.8 million. The signatory for Steven Berger was Steven Berger. The signatory for Flagstar Bank was Alan L. Kaufman.

The property

The 79-20 Queens Boulevard parcel has frontage of 150 feet and is 133 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,324 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-2 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.7 million.The most recent loan totaled $16.9 million and was provided by Metropolitan Commercial Bank on April 27, 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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Elmhurst, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 20.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Elmhurst has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $188.1 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Elmhurst has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 503,377 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the five commercial properties representing 128,066 square feet of the 131,066 square feet. The two identified owners are Steven Berger and David Levitan.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 89,402 square feet. The largest is a 21-unit, 49,336-square-foot R-1 building developed by Yan Po Zhu with plans filed March 13, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is the 40,066-square-foot E building developed by David Levitan with plans filed November 22, 2019 and permitted October 28, 2020.

The majority, or 67 percent of the 131,066 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Steven Berger owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 69,525 square feet and a city-determined market value of $9.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $27.6 million in debt, borrowed from Metropolitan Commercial Bank and Popular Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 64 percent of the 69,525 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with other properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

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