Vaya Development filed plans for 114-unit, mixed-use building with 77,855 square feet at 1940 Jerome Avenue in Mt. Hope, the Bronx. Melissa Bindra, a principal with the firm, filed the plans.

The plans were filed under job number X00787559. They call for retail and lobby on the first floor, four units on the second floor and 10 units on floors three through 13 in the 13-story building.
The project was described as: propose new 13-story plus cellar mixed-use building as per plan. Obtain new certificate of occupancy. This project is mandatory inclusionary, 100% low income housing, and quality housing.

Vaya and Steven Chera bought 1940 and 1942 Jerome Avenue of December 30, 2021, for $5.45 million.
The building is designed by Stat Architecture.

At the time of the purchase, the two properties had 8,752 square feet of built space and 56,577 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 65,329 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $622 and the price per buildable square foot is $83 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 1940 and 1942 Jerome Avenue parcels have frontage of 126 feet with a total lot size of 10,850 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4D which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The most recent loan totaled $5.6 million and was provided by New York City Acquisition Fund LLC on August 11, 2022.

Property

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 11 commercial properties representing 29,352 square feet of the 113,702 square feet. The two identified owners are Peter Fine and Steven Chera. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 154,971 square feet. The largest is a zero-unit, 77,116-square-foot E building developed by Peter Fine with plans filed October 8, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.The second largest is Vaya’s 77,855-square-foot building developed by Melissa Bindra with plans filed August 22, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

Over the past five years, there has been one NYC Department of Buildings permit application filed for this parcel valued at more than $20,000. There has been one new building permit application

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Steven Chera owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 31,594 square feet and a city-determined market value of $13.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $51.6 million in debt, borrowed from Republic First Bank and Ladder Capital. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 72 percent of the 31,594 square feet of built space are retail properties, with industrial properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

Within a 400-foot radius of 1940 Jerome 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 two new building permit applications. The most recent of these two items was a filing on April 14, 2022 for a 52,359-square-foot R-2 building with 81 residential units at 53 East 177th Street. Of those eight items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on September 15, 2020 for the $484,750 renovation of 18,880-square-foot F-2 building with N/A residential units at 1959 Jerome Avenue. Of those eight items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $26.3 million. The most recent of the three was Atlantic Development Group which bought the 37,000-square-foot, eight-unit industrial (G1) on 1959 Jerome Avenue for $13.9 million from Richard Pogostin on May 10, 2021. Of those eight items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $20.9 million. The most recent of the two was Morris Weinberg which borrowed $8.4 million from JPMorgan Chase secured by the 78,095-square-foot, 85-unit rental (D1) on 1920 Walton Avenue on August 26, 2021.

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