Verizon pays $21M for four properties in Castle Hill it previously leased

Telecom company Verizon through the entity Verizon New York Inc. paid $21 million to the family of Peter C. Marron through the entity Del Balso Construction Corporation for four properties including the industrial building (G9) at 470 Zerega Avenue in Castle Hill, Bronx, industrial building (G1) at 500 Zerega Avenue in Castle Hill, Bronx, and development building (V8) at 480 Zerega Avenue in Castle Hill, Bronx.
The deal closed on November 17, 2022 and was recorded on November 22, 2022. The four properties have 12,800 square feet of built space and 189,340 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 202,190 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,640 and the price per buildable square foot is $103 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 Peter C. Marron was Peter C. Marron. The signatory for Verizon was Megan L. Ust. A Peter C. Marron is identified as the executive of of Del Balso Construction, which state corporate filings show dates back to the 1920s. Members of the Marron, Del Balso and Alfieri families have owned this parcel since at least 1966. Verizon has occupied this property since at least 2007, a review of Google Streetmaps shows.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 470 Zerega Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Verizon purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $124.7 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Peter C. Marron had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The 470 Zerega Avenue parcel has frontage of 168 feet and is 300 feet deep with a total lot size of 34,350 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.3 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $4,875 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Castle Hill, the bulk, or 48 percent of the 4.9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, Castle Hill has the 34th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $29.1 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Castle Hill has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 208,748 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 the tax block of 470 Zerega Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the six commercial properties representing 40,248 square feet of the 84,165 square feet. The identified owner is Joseph Briody.
there are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

the majority, or 92 percent of the 84,165 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Verizon owned at least 51 commercial properties in New York City.

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