Verv Capital pays $9.8M to Vanbarton Group for three properties in Fordham Heights

Verv Capital through the entity 101 East Burnside LLC paid $9.8 million to Vanbarton Group through the entity Eib Burnside LLC for the midblock mixed-use building at 103-109 East Burnside Avenue in Fordham Heights, Bronx, retail building at 2056 Morris Avenue in Fordham Heights, Bronx, and midblock nine-unit residential walkup building at 2062 Morris Avenue in Fordham Heights, Bronx.
The deal closed on May 10, 2022 and was recorded on June 1, 2022. The three properties have 24,326 square feet of built space and 40,337 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 64,666 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $404 and the price per buildable square foot is $152 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.) Justin B. Kleinman is principal and CEO of Vanbarton Group.

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 103-109 East Burnside Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

The three properties with a total of 24,326 square feet of built space generated revenue of $958,504 per year or $39 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $405.

The property

The 103-109 East Burnside Avenue parcel has frontage of 80 feet and is 91 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,880 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 city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.9 million.
The 2056 Morris Avenue parcel has frontage of 20 feet and is 94 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,904 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 city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.3 million.
The 2062 Morris Avenue parcel has frontage of 19 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,958 square feet. 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 city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $528,000.

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 $525 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, two out of the three buildings received an initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. 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 Fordham Heights, the bulk, or 43 percent of the 17.5 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 33 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Heights has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $101 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Fordham Heights has 2.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Bronx. It had 2.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 14 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 103-109 East Burnside Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 12 commercial properties representing 350,934 square feet of the 510,829 square feet. The largest owner is John LaRocca, followed by Franco Milio and then Blackstone Group. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 66 percent of the 517,765 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 103-109 East Burnside Avenue, Pincusco identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those three items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit application filed on February 25, 2021 for a 40,508-square-foot R-2 building with 67 residential units at 2074 Walton Avenue.
One of those three items was a sale which Blackstone Group bought the 67,957-square-foot, 55-unit rental (D1) on 2066 Morris Avenue for $8.5 million from AIG on January 31, 2022.
One of those three items was a loan which Milbrook Properties borrowed $5 million from Symetra Life Insurance Company secured by the 15,800-square-foot, seven-unit retail building (K1) on 68 East Burnside Avenue on April 26, 2021.

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