Vornado pays $19.1M for Jenel retail in Penn Plaza facing foreclosure auction

Vornado Realty Trust through the entity 136-138 West 34th Street LLC paid $19.1 million to Jenel Real Estate through the entity 136 West 34th St. Associates, L.P. for the mixed-use building (K4) at 138 West 34th Street in Penn Plaza, Manhattan and mixed-use building (K4) at 136 West 34th Street in Penn Plaza, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing. The properties are directly across the street from Macy’s.

The special servicer LNR Partners for a commercial mortgage-backed security, Series 2014-GC19, filed a $30 million pre-foreclosure action, Case 850158/2024 LINK, on May 13, 2024, in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeking the foreclosure sale. Jenel Real Estate through the entity 136 West 34th St. Associates bought the two buildings from Alexander DiLorenzo III (the son of Alexander DiLorenzo Jr., former partner of Sol Goldman) in 1992 for $3.1 million, according to a PincusCo analysis of transfer tax payments.

The referee set October 1, 2025, as the auction date, but the auction was not held and instead on October 15 the case was dismissed.
Two days later, on October 17, 2025, the sale closed and it was recorded on October 23, 2025. The two properties have 16,115 square feet of built space and 33,257 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 49,380 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,185 and the price per buildable square foot is $386 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 Jenel Real Estate was David Dushey . The signatory for Vornado Realty Trust was Steven Borenstein . The contract date was October 17, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Vornado Realty Trust purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $218 million and sold 14 properties in five transactions for a total of $1.7 billion over the past 24 months.
The seller Jenel Real Estate had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $235.4 million over the same time period. The two properties with a total of 16,115 square feet of built space generated revenue of $5.4 million per year or $337 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $1,185.

The property

The mixed-use building in Penn Plaza has 16,115 square feet of built space and 33,257 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 49,380 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,469 square feet. The zoning is C6-6 which allows for up to 15 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 $21.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in two lawsuits and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The highest value suit was a $30 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on May 13, 2024, by Series 2014-GC19 and LNR Partners against Jenel Management. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $4,300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, one out of the two buildings received a 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Penn Plaza, The majority, or 76 percent of the 20.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Penn Plaza has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $184.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Penn Plaza has 2.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. It had 3.9 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 19 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 136 West 34th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 23 commercial properties representing 1,297,260 square feet of the 1,440,387 square feet. The largest owner is Empire State Realty Trust, followed by Jemb Realty and then Vornado Realty Trust.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 64 percent of the 1.4 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jenel Real Estate owned at least nine commercial properties with 348 residential units in New York City with 368,632 square feet and a city-determined market value of $162.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $164.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Goldman Sachs, Israel Discount Bank, and Webster Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 55 percent of the 368,632 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with retail properties next occupying 30 percent of the space. The bulk, or 71 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 17 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Vornado Realty Trust owned at least 55 commercial properties with four residential units in New York City with 15,490,385 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $6.8 billion in debt, with top three lenders as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 78 percent of the 15,490,385 square feet of built space are office properties, with retail properties next occupying 12 percent of the space. The bulk, or 97 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 3 percent of the space.

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