Top Rock, RJ Capital in contract to buy Forest Hill Jewish Center being offered for $50M

UPDATED: Top Rock Holdings and RJ Capital Holdings through the entity JU Forest Hills Development, LLC are in contract to pay the Forest Hill Jewish Center through the entity The Forest Hills Jewish Center an undisclosed amount for the synagogue (M1) at 106-06 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens.
The purchase and sale agreement was signed September 13, 2021, or nearly 11 months ago, according to the memorandum of contract, which does not disclose a closing date or sale price.
Thomas Donovan of B6 Real Estate Advisors listed this for sale in 2020 for $50 million.
The memorandum of contract was signed on July 29, 2022 and was recorded on August 5, 2022. The signatory for Forest Hill Jewish Center was Fruma Narov. The signatory for Top Rock Holdings was Uri Mermelstein. Mermelstein and Joseph Yushuvayev lead Top Rock. The principals of RJ Capital Holdings are Rudy Abramov and Michael Abramov.
The property has 67,780 square feet of built space and 112,750 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 180,690 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The $50 million listing price per built square foot is $735 and the price per buildable square foot is $276 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.)

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Top Rock Holdings purchased four properties in four transactions for a total of $44.4 million and sold one properties in one transactions for a total of $2.4 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Forest Hill Jewish Center had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The 106-06 Queens Boulevard parcel has frontage of 141 feet and is 282 feet deep with a total lot size of 36,138 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-5X which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 5 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $18.8 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.

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 neighborhood

In Forest Hills, the majority, or 62 percent of the 15 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 12 percent of the space. In sales, Forest Hills has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $109.8 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Forest Hills has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Queens. It had 1.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the two commercial properties representing 22,568 square feet of the 33,408 square feet. The identified owner is ACHS Management.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 68 percent of the 33,408 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 32 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Top Rock Holdings owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 196,643 square feet and a city-determined market value of $62.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $6 million in debt, borrowed from Northwind Group. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 53 percent of the 196,643 square feet of built space are office properties, with specialty properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. The bulk, or 49 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 36 percent of the space.

CORRECTION: A prior version of this article noted the the contract vendee address was at a space controlled by Netrality. However, that company is not involved in this transaction in any way, according to a source familiar with the sale.

UPDATE: RJ Capital Holdings is a party to the buyer team.

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