Townhouse Property Group files to demolish two Lenox Hill corner buildings, no NB plans filed

Sean Lavin of Townhouse Property Group through the entity 301 East 60th Street LLC submitted a demolition application for the demolition of two mixed-use (COM) walkup buildings with a total of 18 units at 1140 and 1142 Second Avenue in Lenox Hill, Manhattan. The buildings are on the corner with East 60th Street. The plans were filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on February 1, 2023 under job number 123915914 and 123915923. Each calls for the demolition of a four-story building. The projects are described in the filings as: full demolition of four-story structure, using hand held and mechanical means to assist.
There is no recent new building project filed for the parcel, according to a PincusCo review of Department of Buildings records.

The property

The two walkup building with 18 residential units in Lenox Hill have 9,000 square feet of built space and 21,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 30,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has two buildings with frontage of 40 feet and is 75 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,000 square feet. The zoning is C2-8 which allows for up to 2 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 $4.1 million.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold for $12 million on January 10, 2014.

The 9,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $720,692 or $80 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Lenox Hill, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 51.9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Lenox Hill has the highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Lenox Hill has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. It had 3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 17 of the 34 commercial properties representing 284,055 square feet of the 435,559 square feet. The largest owner is First Sigma, followed by Hirschfeld Properties and then HUBB NYC. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 24,367 square feet. It is a 21-unit, 24,367 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Jason Enters with plans filed April 15, 2013 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Sean Lavin, head officer and David Nelson, site manager. The business entity is 301 E 60th Street, Llc.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 1140 2 Avenue, PincusCo identified 13 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those 13 items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit application filed on March 26, 2021 for a 14,961-square-foot business (B) building at 308 East 59th Street. Of those 13 items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $55.4 million. The most recent of the three was Forkosh Development Group which bought the 66,237-square-foot, 16-unit rental (D7) on 305 East 61st Street for $35 million from Carter Management on January 19, 2022. Of those 13 items, nine were loans above $5 million totaling $207.6 million. The most recent of the nine was Gatsby Enterprises in which borrowed $5.2 million from First Republic Bank secured by the 9,050-square-foot, 20-unit rental (C4) on 309 East 61st Street and one other property on November 16, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.