VAJA Group signs $19M refi for new 59-unit building in Pelham Bay

VAJA Group through the entity Pelham Residences LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Ponce Bank through the entity Ponce Bank valued at $19 million for the newly built 59-unit building at 2135 Colonial Avenue in Pelham Bay, Bronx.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, X00710266, for a 59-unit, 42,675 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by Moses Freund with plans filed April 6, 2022 and permitted November 1, 2023.
The deal closed on March 11, 2025 and was recorded on March 13, 2025. The loan price per foot was $445. The prior lender was NorthEast Community Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $16.8 million.

The owner bought the property on May 24, 2022, for $2.2 million. The signatory for VAJA Group was Moses Freund . The signatory for Ponce Bank was Steven A. Tsavaris .

The property

The development building with 3 residential units in Pelham Bay has 4,400 square feet of built space and 16,856 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 16,856 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 51 feet and is 90 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,900 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-1 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 $1.2 million. The most recent loan totaled $16.8 million and was provided by NorthEast Community Bank on December 21, 2023.

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 $21,620 in ECB penalties and $21,620 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

The neighborhood

In Pelham Bay, The bulk, or 27 percent of the 6.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Pelham Bay has the 19th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $55.4 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Pelham Bay has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 275,322 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the two commercial properties representing 35,000 square feet of the 77,000 square feet. The identified owner is Michael Lajqi.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 25,000 square feet. It is a 42-unit, 25,000 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Moses Freund with plans filed April 6, 2022 and permitted November 1, 2023.

All properties are walkup.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that VAJA Group owned at least 20 commercial properties with 264 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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