Synergy Hospitality Management signs $64.5M refi loan with Bsafal Inc. for hotel in East Elmhurst

Synergy Hospitality Management through the entity Laguardia Associates, L.P. as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Bsafal Inc. through the entity Ba Lga Plaza Lender LLC valued at $64.5 million for the hotel building (H2) at 104-04 Ditmars Boulevard in East Elmhurst, Queens.
The deal closed on December 21, 2023 and was recorded on January 2, 2024. The prior lender was Series 2007-CIBC18 which held debt that had an original loan amount of $57.1 million.
The property has 354,254 square feet of built space and 190,518 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 544,657 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $182 and the price per buildable square foot is $118 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 Synergy Hospitality Management was Stephen Field. The signatory for Bsafal Inc. was Ameesh Agarwal. Agarwal is president of Bsafal Inc., a subsidiary of Safal Constructions Pvt. Ltd., according to Dow Jones’s Mansion Global.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Stephen Field, head officer and Effie Mikedis, site manager. The business entity is Laguardia Associates Lp.

The property

The hotel building in East Elmhurst has 354,254 square feet of built space and 190,518 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 544,657 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 667 feet and is 182 feet deep with a total lot size of 224,139 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 $36.2 million.

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 seven DOB violations and $7,000 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 neighborhood

In East Elmhurst, The bulk, or 48 percent of the 2 million square feet of commercial built space are hotel buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, East Elmhurst has the 57th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Queens with $5 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, East Elmhurst has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 362,658 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 19 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the four commercial properties representing 123,425 square feet of the 477,679 square feet. The identified owner is Stephen Field.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 477,679 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

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