Cedarbridge Management pays $10.4M to Sugar Hill for 54-unit rental in Washington Heights, bought for $21.6M in 2016

UPDATED 11:08 a.m., May 4, 2023: Cedarbridge Management through the entity TYH Broadway LLC paid $10.4 million to Sugar Hill Capital Partners through the entity 4300 Broadway Residences, LLC for the 54-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 4300 Broadway in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Former lender Signature Bank had filed a pre-foreclosure action at the property.
The deal closed on April 21, 2023 and was recorded on May 3, 2023. The property has 52,598 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $197 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 seller bought the property on February 2, 2016, for $21.6 million. The signatory for Sugar Hill Capital Partners was Margaret Grossman. The signatory for Cedarbridge Management was Rachel Posen. Sugar Hill bought the building in 2016 for $21.6 million.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller Sugar Hill Capital Partners had not purchased any other properties and sold 23 properties in 23 transactions for a total of $81.5 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Scott Castellano, head officer and Lauren Whitehead, site manager. The business entity is 4300 Broadway Residences, Llc. The 52,598-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.2 million or $22 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential elevator building with 54 residential units in Washington Heights has 52,598 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 118 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,450 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-2 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 $5.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $16 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on November 10, 2022, by Signature Bank against Sugar Hill Capital Partners. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received two DOB violations, $6,250 in ECB penalties, 29 housing violations, and $10,400 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 10 commercial properties representing 132,134 square feet of the 199,898 square feet. The largest owner is Sugar Hill Capital Partners, followed by NYC Department Of Education and then Joan Price Rahav.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 88,262 square feet. It is a 98-unit, 88,262 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Leo Tsimmer with plans filed February 17, 2017 and permitted June 3, 2022.

The majority, or 46 percent of the 199,898 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sugar Hill Capital Partners owned at least 81 commercial properties with 1,639 residential units in New York City with 1,549,152 square feet and a city-determined market value of $189.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $134.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Signature Bank, Citibank, and New York Community Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 54 percent of the 1,549,152 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 35 percent of the space. The bulk, or 70 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 30 percent of the space.

Correction: A prior version of this post incorrectly identified the buyer as Treetop Development. The correct buyer is Cedarbridge Management.

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