VAJA Group pays $2.2M to Rosemawr Management for dev site in Concourse

VAJA Group, led by Moses Freund, through the entity 700 Gerard Owner LLC paid $2.2 million to Rosemawr Management through the entity Rm Bronx LLC for the development parcel (V0) at 700 Gerard Avenue in Concourse, Bronx.

The American Dream Charter School planned a new educational building on the site, but those plans did not go through.
The deal closed on June 10, 2024 and was recorded on June 14, 2024. The property has zero square feet of built space and 50,850 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 50,850 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $42 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 August 21, 2020, for $10.6 million. The signatory for Rosemawr Management was B.Z. Halberstam. The signatory for VAJA Group was Moses Freund. The contract date was June 10, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer VAJA Group purchased six properties in four transactions for a total of $27.6 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Rosemawr Management had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 88 feet and is 96 feet deep with a total lot size of 8,447 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential.

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 received $3,690 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 30,489 square-foot E building. The project was submitted by Highmark School Development and filed by Tamela Sweeris with plans filed December 21, 2018 and permitted July 2, 2019.

The neighborhood

In Concourse, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 13.4 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space. In sales, Concourse has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $79 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Concourse has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Bronx. It had 1.1 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 three of the seven commercial properties representing 207,038 square feet of the 617,016 square feet. The largest owner is Rosemawr Management, followed by Finkelstein Timberger East Real Estate and then Arthur C. Green.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 30,489 square feet. It is a 30,489 square-foot educational (E) building submitted by Highmark School Development and filed by Tamela Sweeris with plans filed December 21, 2018 and permitted July 2, 2019.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 617,016 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Vaja Group owned at least 15 commercial properties with 151 residential units in New York City with 106,618 square feet and a city-determined market value of $14.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $40.8 million in debt, borrowed from Northeast Community Bank and NorthEast Community Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 36 percent of the 106,618 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. The bulk, or 88 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Queens next at 12 percent of the space.

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