Wayne Boich, Andrew Mathias pay $32.5M to SL Green for retail, signage in Times Square

Wayne Boich Jr.’s Miami-based Boich Investment Group and former SL Green Realty president Andrew Mathias through the entity AMWB 719 LLC paid $32.5 million to SL Green Realty through the entity 719 Seventh TIC 1 Owner LLC for the retail building that includes large signage (K2), at 719 Seventh Avenue at the southeast corner of 48th Street in Times Square, Manhattan. The transaction amount disclosed in recent SL Green corporate filings was $30.5 million, though it was not immediately clear what the difference in price represented.
The deal closed on June 17, 2024 and was recorded on July 3, 2024. The property has 7,887 square feet of built space and 12,245 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 20,140 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $4,115 and the price per buildable square foot is $1,611 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.)

Boich Investment Group  is led by Wayne Boich. The family fortune began in the coal mining and later coal trading arenas, and the company still maintains such investments through an interest in the coal mining venture Signal Peak Energy. According to the Boich Investment Group website, Boich, “has a significant real estate portfolio with assets throughout the U.S., including multi-family, hotels, commercial and developments.”

Wayne Boich and Andrew Mathias partnered with Related Companies’s Bruce Beal to develop a 50,000-square-foot commercial project in Sunset Harbour, Florida, The Real Deal reported in 2022.

The signatory for SL Green Realty was Andrew S. Levine. The signatory for the buyers Andrew Mathias was Brian Murphy of Boich Investment Group. The contract date was April 16, 2024.

The seller bought the property almost exactly 10 years ago, on July 1, 2014, for $41.1 million, then demolished the building and constructed a modern retail box with large signage.

Simultaneously with the purchase, Boich Investment Group and Mathias signed a master lease as landlord with the entity 2 Forest Park Lane LLC, with signatory William Norgard and an address at the Water Mill restaurant Calissa. The lease has an initial term of 20 years and two five-year options as well as a purchase option.

According to an SL Green financial filing, “In April 2024, the Company entered into an arms-length arrangement to sell the property at 719 Seventh Avenue for $30.5 million to a special purpose entity (“SPE”), of which our former President and current director, Andrew Mathias, is a partner. No amounts from the transaction will be payable to Mr. Mathias. Mr. Mathias is initially expected to own up to 40% of the equity of the SPE representing an investment by Mr. Mathias of up to approximately $7.0 million in the acquisition of the property…. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, we recognized depreciable real estate reserves and impairments at 719 Seventh Avenue ($46.3 million) to reduce the carrying value of our investment to the sale price per the contract that was entered into in April 2024… In connection with the sale, the Company will repay the existing $50.0 million mortgage for $32.0 million.”

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Boich Investment Group had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller SL Green Realty purchased 36 properties in three transactions for a total of $2 billion and sold 29 properties in six transactions for a total of $327.6 million over the same time period.

The property

The retail building in Times Square has 7,887 square feet of built space and 12,245 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 20,140 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 79 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,014 square feet. The zoning is C6-7T which allows for up to 14 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $12.4 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 $600 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on August 9, 2017. On the lot, there was a new building construction project for a 6,018 square-foot retail (M) building. The project was submitted by Roger Merriman with plans filed April 2, 2015 and permitted October 20, 2015.

The neighborhood

In Times Square, The majority, or 58 percent of the 10.1 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, Times Square has 3.7 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $984.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 8th highest in Manhattan. For development, Times Square has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 837,302 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 eight of the nine commercial properties representing 3,151,132 square feet of the 3,154,582 square feet. The largest owner is Tribeach Holdings, followed by SL Green Realty and then Riu Hotels & Resorts.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 379,240 square feet. The largest is a 974-unit, 260,360 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by McSam Hotel Group and filed by Sam Chang with plans filed December 23, 2019 and permitted February 19, 2020. The second largest is a 401-unit, 112,862 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Atlas Hospitality and filed by Raj Guru with plans filed April 28, 2021 and permitted December 4, 2023.

The majority, or 63 percent of the 3.2 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that SL Green Realty owned at least 36 commercial properties with 881 residential units in New York City with 17,346,981 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.5 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 93 percent of the 17,346,981 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 4 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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