VAJA Group pays $3.9M for dev site in East Morrisania

VAJA Group through the entity Boone Avenue Flats LLC paid $3.9 million to Basanti Mitra, Sanjoy Basu, and Unk Anail Moon Devi through the entity Omkar Properties LLC for the industrial building (E9) at 1015 East 173rd Street in East Morrisania, Bronx. The expected use is new construction.
On the lot, there is a new building construction project, X01150558, for an 80-unit, 53,494 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by VAJA Group and filed by Moses Freund with plans filed March 27, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on June 4, 2025 and was recorded on June 12, 2025. The property has 22,371 square feet of built space and 21,266 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 43,624 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $174 and the price per buildable square foot is $89 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 Basanti Mitra, Sanjoy Basu, and Unk Anail Moon Devi was Basanti Mitra, Sanjoy Basu, and Unk Anail Moon Devi. The signatory for VAJA Group was Chaim Wiesenfeld . The contract date was June 4, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer VAJA Group purchased 10 properties in seven transactions for a total of $37.4 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Basanti Mitra had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 22,371-square-foot property generated revenue of $330,643 or $15 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The industrial building in East Morrisania has 22,371 square feet of built space and 21,266 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 43,624 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 88 feet and is 115 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,906 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.6 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

The second largest, 210180089, is a new building project for a 43,606 square-foot E building submitted by Basanti Mitra with plans filed September 6, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In East Morrisania, The bulk, or 43 percent of the 12 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, East Morrisania has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $115.4 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, East Morrisania has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Bronx. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 21 commercial properties representing 87,114 square feet of the 258,691 square feet. The largest owner is Extra Space Properties 143 Llc, followed by Spaxel and then Atlantis Development.
On the tax block, there were 11 new building construction projects totaling 649,974 square feet. The largest is a 340-unit, 271,713 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Apex Investments and filed by Andrew Sasson with plans filed June 6, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 80-unit, 53,494 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by VAJA Group and filed by Moses Freund with plans filed March 27, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 70 percent of the 258,691 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that VAJA Group owned at least 20 commercial properties with 526 residential units in New York City with 169,513 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19.4 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 23 percent of the 169,513 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with specialty properties next occupying 18 percent of the space. The bulk, or 74 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Queens next at 26 percent of the space.

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