Timber Equities signs $44M construction loan with Bank Hapoalim in Marble Hill

Timber Equities through the entity 168 W. 225th LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Bank Hapoalim through the entity Bank Hapoalim B.M. valued at $44 million at 168-174 West 225th Street in Marble Hill, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 24, 2023 and was recorded on November 8, 2023. The prior lender was Skybrook Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $5.5 million.

The signatory for Timber Equities was Joseph Seidenfeld.

The property

The zoning is R7-1 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential.

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 $3,930 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 32 of the 92 commercial properties representing 1,624,835 square feet of the 2,632,258 square feet. The largest owner is Vistria Group, followed by Lemle & Wolff and then City Of New York.
On the tax block, there were eight new building construction projects totaling 74,357 square feet. The largest is a 39-unit, 28,402 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Chafia Capital Partners and filed by James Kwon with plans filed October 16, 2018 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 24-unit, 17,776 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Jim Kwon with plans filed April 20, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 59 percent of the 2.6 million square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Timber Equities owned at least four commercial properties with 84 residential units in New York City with 38,399 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $55.8 million in debt, borrowed from Bank Hapoalim and Webster Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 38,399 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with V1 properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

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