Thor Equities signs $10M refi loan with EquiTrust for 45-unit rental in Morningside Heights, down from $25M

Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities through the entity Thor 526 W 111th Street LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender EquiTrust Life Insurance Company valued at $10 million for the 45-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 526 West 111th Street in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.
The deal closed on December 15, 2022 and was recorded on December 19, 2022. The prior lender was East West Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $25 million. The property has 44,681 square feet of built space and 15,220 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 59,886 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $223 and the price per buildable square foot is $166 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 October 1, 2015, for $30 million. The signatory for Thor Equities was Morris Missry. The signatory for EquiTrust Life Insurance Company was A. Brad Feine.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Adam Lichtenstein, head officer and Stephanie Knight, agent. The business entities are Choice New York Management and Thor 526 West 111th Street LLC. The 44,681-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.5 million or $34 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 526 West 111th Street parcel has frontage of 108 feet and is 91 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,948 square feet. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Morningside Heights Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7 million.

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 one DOB violation, 21 housing violations, and $1,650 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the eight commercial properties representing 176,613 square feet of the 373,760 square feet. The largest owner is Thor Equities, followed by Stellar Management and then Columbia University.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 94 percent of the 364,948 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 3 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Thor Equities owned at least 25 commercial properties in New York City with 572,486 square feet and a city-determined market value of $175.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $238.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as MetLife, Athene Holding, and AB CarVal Investors respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 572,486 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with retail properties next occupying 12 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 2 percent of the space.

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