Victor Sigoura’s Legion Investment pays $68.3M for dev parcels in Gramercy

Victor Sigoura’s Legion Investment Group paid $68.3 million for four walkup buildings, 252, 254, 256 and 258 Third Avenue in four separate transactions. The total buildable square footage according to a PincusCo calculation is 69,000 square feet, or approximately $990 per square foot.

In October 2023, Sigoura filed plans for a 48-unit, 73,156 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 152 East 21st Street on these parcels. The plan was filed on October 31, 2023. It calls for the construction of a 163-foot tall, 14-story building and was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number M00951325. The architect is SLCE Architects. The project is described in the filing as: construct 14-story new residential building with one commercial space on the ground floor. (Legion also filed a plan in October to build 14 units at 38 Gramercy Park East, but no sale has been recorded for that tax lot.)

To finance the purchase of the four Third Avenue properties, Sigoura borrowed $33.5 million from JPMorgan Chase.

In the first transaction, Legion Investment Group through the entity Gramercy 252 Owner LLC paid $21.2 million to Hee Nam Bae through the entity 258 Third Avenue LLC for the two-unit mixed-use building (S2) at 258 Third Avenue in Gramercy, Manhattan.
The deal closed on February 27, 2024 and was recorded on March 6, 2024. The property has 3,402 square feet of built space and 13,851 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 17,250 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $6,242 and the price per buildable square foot is $1,231 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 seller bought the property on June 23, 2008, for $4.9 million. The signatory for Hee Nam Bae was Jay H. Kim. The signatory for Legion Investment Group was Victory Sigoura. The contract date was July 31, 2023.

In the second transaction, Legion Investment Group through the entity Gramercy 252 Owner LLC paid $17.1 million to Ki Sook Choe through the entity 256 H.M., LLC for the three-unit mixed-use building (S3) at 256 3rd Avenue in Gramercy, Manhattan.
The deal closed on February 27, 2024 and was recorded on March 6, 2024. The property has 4,729 square feet of built space and 12,523 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 17,250 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $3,611 and the price per buildable square foot is $990 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 seller bought the property on January 22, 2009, for $5 million. The signatory for Ki Sook Choe was Jay H. Kim. The signatory for Legion Investment Group was Victory Sigoura. The contract date was July 31, 2023.

In the third transaction, Legion Investment Group through the entity Gramercy 252 Owner LLC paid $15 million to Hee Nam Bae through the entity City Lights Properties LLC for the retail building (K1) at 252 3rd Avenue in Gramercy, Manhattan.
The deal closed on February 27, 2024 and was recorded on March 6, 2024. The property has 1,725 square feet of built space and 15,525 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 17,250 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $8,695 and the price per buildable square foot is $869 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 seller bought the property on October 27, 2005, for $3 million. The signatory for Hee Nam Bae was Jay H. Kim. The signatory for Legion Investment Group was Victory Sigoura. The contract date was July 31, 2023.

In the fourth transaction, Legion Investment Group through the entity Gramercy 252 Owner LLC paid $15 million to Hee Nam Bae through the entity City Lights Properties Two LLC for the mixed-use building (K4) at 254 Third Avenue in Gramercy, Manhattan.
The deal closed on February 27, 2024 and was recorded on March 6, 2024. The property has 2,691 square feet of built space and 14,559 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 17,250 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $5,574 and the price per buildable square foot is $869 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 Hee Nam Bae was Jay H. Kim. The signatory for Legion Investment Group was Victory Sigoura. The contract date was July 31, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Legion Investment Group purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $43.1 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Hee Nam Bae had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building with 2 residential units in Gramercy has 3,402 square feet of built space and 13,851 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 17,250 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 23 feet and is 75 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,725 square feet. The zoning is C1-9A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.3 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 received five DOB violations and $400 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 48-unit, 73,156 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Legion Investment Group and filed by Victor Sigoura with plans filed October 31, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Gramercy, The bulk, or 31 percent of the 11.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Gramercy has 1.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $439 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 23rd highest in Manhattan. For development, Gramercy has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 26th highest in Manhattan. It had 920,413 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 11 commercial properties representing 324,975 square feet of the 362,230 square feet. The largest owner is Richard Warshaw, followed by Feil Organization and then Chana Ben-Dov.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 99,016 square feet. The largest is a 48-unit, 73,156 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Legion Investment Group and filed by Victor Sigoura with plans filed October 31, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 13-unit, 25,860 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Legion Investment Group and filed by Victor Sigoura with plans filed October 31, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 86 percent of the 362,230 square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Legion Investment Group owned at least seven commercial properties with 21 residential units in New York City with 29,214 square feet and a city-determined market value of $22.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $110.6 million in debt, borrowed from Deutsche Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 29,214 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with retail properties next occupying 42 percent of the space. The bulk, or 66 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 34 percent of the space.

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