Tishman Speyer pays $20.6M to Roman Catholic Church for 336-unit dev site in Kingsbridge

Tishman Speyer through the entity 160 Van Cortlandt Park South Owner, L.L.C. paid $20.6 million to the Roman Catholic Church through the entity Roman Catholic Church Of Saint John And Visitation for the development site at 160 Van Cortlandt Park South, also known as 171 West 239th Street in Kingsbridge, Bronx. Tishman filed plans for a 336-unit, 279,518-square-foot residential (R-2) building on July 21, 2022.
The sale transfer closed on August 16, 2022 and was recorded on August 25, 2022. The property has 14,160 square feet of built space and 180,426 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 194,566 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,452 and the price per buildable square foot is $105 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 Roman Catholic Church was Michael P. Kerrigan. The signatory for Tishman Speyer was Joseph G. Doran.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Tishman Speyer purchased 10 properties in one transaction for a total of $90.4 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Roman Catholic Church purchased one properties in one transactions for a total of $1.5 million and sold 19 properties in 12 transactions for a total of $85.1 million over the same time period.

The property

The 171 West 239th Street parcel has frontage of 265 feet and is 289 feet deep with a total lot size of 56,560 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-1 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.7 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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Kingsbridge, the bulk, or 31 percent of the 6.4 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Kingsbridge has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $93.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Kingsbridge has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 279,001 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 18 commercial properties representing 251,890 square feet of the 407,335 square feet. The largest owner is Tpa V, LLC, followed by MDG Design + Construction and then LAL Property Management.
There are three active new building construction projects totaling 314,979 square feet. The largest is a 336-unit, 279,518-square-foot R-2 building developed by Tishman Speyer with plans filed July 21, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 27-unit, 30,085-square-foot R-2 building developed by Moshe Zlicha with plans filed March 22, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 53 percent of the 407,335 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 44 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Roman Catholic Church owned at least 145 commercial properties in New York City with 3,641,677 square feet and a city-determined market value of $637.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 3,641,677 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with M1 properties next occupying 27 percent of the space. The bulk, or 47 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 30 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Tishman Speyer owned at least 87 commercial properties in New York City with 16,837,399 square feet and a city-determined market value of $6.2 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $2.9 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Wells Fargo, Blackstone Group, and Bank of America respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 16,837,399 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 78 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 16 percent of the space.

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