Trans World affiliate pays $20M for mixed-use in Hell’s Kitchen

A Transworld Equities affiliate through the entity Lyp Ventures, LLC paid $20 million to Dori Nagar through the entity Adcort Realty Ltd. for midblock four-unit mixed-use building at 689 8th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.
The deal closed on May 25, 2022 and was recorded on June 10, 2022. The property has 5,503 square feet of built space and 14,663 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 20,170 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $3,634 and the price per buildable square foot is $991 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 Dori Nagar was Dori Nagar. The signatory for Trans World Equities, which is also spelled Transworld Equities, was Dan Forrester. A company at the same address as Trans World acquired 725 Eighth Avenue from Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities last year.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller Dori Nagar had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Dori Nagar, head officer and Roni Nagar, officer. The business entity is Adcort Realty Ltf. The 5,503-square-foot property generated revenue of $558,094 or $101 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 689 8th Avenue parcel has frontage of 20 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,017 square feet. The zoning is C6-4 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 $3 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 received $1,000 in OATH penalties 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 Hell’s Kitchen, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 45 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Hell’s Kitchen has 3.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $972.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. For development, Hell’s Kitchen has 1.3 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 18th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 29 commercial properties representing 144,494 square feet of the 1,050,526 square feet. The largest owner is Lawrence Lipman, followed by Acuity Capital Partners and then Edison Properties. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 73,909 square feet. The second largest is a 29-unit, 38,684-square-foot R-2 building developed by Yevgeniy Lvovskiy with plans filed April 21, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 53 percent of the 920,236 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with office buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Trans World Equities owned at least four commercial properties.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 689 8th Avenue, PincusCo identified eight commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those eight items, two were in new building development. There were one new building permit application and one new building permit. The most recent of these two items was a permit on May 24, 2022 for a 294,761-square-foot R-2 building with 321 residential units at 312 West 43rd Street.
Of those eight items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was an initial temporary certificate of occupancy issued on August 18, 2020 for the $600,000 renovation of zero-square-foot S-2 building with no residential units at 332 West 44th Street.
Of those eight items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $50.9 million. The most recent of the two was Paramount Group which bought one condo unit in the 26,883-square-foot, 1,332-unit mixed-use building (RC) on 700 8th Avenue for $45.3 million from Thor Equities on April 13, 2022.
Of those eight items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $235 million. The most recent of the three was McSam Hotel Group which borrowed $24.6 million from Sterling National Bank secured by the 35,420-square-foot, one-unit hotel (H2) on 324 West 44th Street on March 2, 2022.

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