Touro pays $42M for school building in East Harlem

Touro University paid $42 million to New York College of Podiatric Medicine for the specialty building (W6) at 53 East 124th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan. The expected use is owner-occupied.
The deal closed on January 1, 2025 and was recorded on January 9, 2025. The property has 55,770 square feet of built space and 118,381 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 174,090 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $753 and the price per buildable square foot is $241 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 New York College of Podiatric Medicine was Keith A. Greathouse. The signatory for Touro College was Michael Newman. The contract date was April 20, 2021.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Touro University had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller New York College of Podiatric Medicine had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in East Harlem has 55,770 square feet of built space and 118,381 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 174,090 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 172 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 17,409 square feet. The zoning is C4-7 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6 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 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In East Harlem, The majority, or 51 percent of the 52.4 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, East Harlem has 2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $511.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 21st highest in Manhattan. For development, East Harlem has 1.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 18th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.1 million 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 14 of the 29 commercial properties representing 197,203 square feet of the 341,999 square feet. The largest owner is Durst Organization, followed by New York City Housing Authority and then Stellar Management.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 40 percent of the 341,999 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Touro University owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 32,880 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $35.3 million in debt, borrowed from NYS Dormitory Authority and Investors Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single walkup property. It is located in Brooklyn.

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