Wharton Properties, Midtown Equities sell Clinton Hill retail for $9.4M

Wharton Properties and Midtown Equities through the entity 449 Myrtle Owner LLC sold the one-story retail building (K7) at 449 Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, for $9.4 million to Peggy Hung Chun Ma through the entity 72nd Street-Broadway Realty Inc. Bank of America occupies the building.
The deal closed on April 26, 2024 and was recorded on April 26, 2024. The property has 12,500 square feet of built space and 13,287 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,800 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $750 and the price per buildable square foot is $363 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 March 6, 2006, for $3.8 million. The signatories for Wharton Properties and Midtown Equities were Jeff Sutton and Michael Cayre. The signatory for Peggy Hung Chun Ma was Peggy Hung Chun Ma. The contract date was March 25, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Peggy Hung Chun Ma had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Wharton Properties purchased six properties in four transactions for a total of $34.9 million and sold 17 properties in 12 transactions for a total of $1.9 billion over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building in Clinton Hill has 12,500 square feet of built space and 13,287 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,800 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 129 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,450 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4 million. The most recent loan totaled $17.8 million and was provided by Valley National Bank on September 22, 2021.

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 four DOB violations in the last year.

Development

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 Clinton Hill, The bulk, or 34 percent of the 10.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Clinton Hill has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $289.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 27th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Clinton Hill has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 225,190 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 16 commercial properties representing 42,403 square feet of the 127,474 square feet. The largest owner is Midtown Equities, followed by Jose R. Rodriguez and then Capital Equities Group.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 34 percent of the 127,474 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Wharton Properties owned at least 87 commercial properties with 212 residential units in New York City with 3,676,926 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.9 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $261.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Valley National Bank, Bank of China, and Provident Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 71 percent of the 3,676,926 square feet of built space are office properties, with retail properties next occupying 18 percent of the space. The bulk, or 86 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 10 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Midtown Equities owned at least four commercial properties with 121 residential units in New York City with 474,817 square feet and a city-determined market value of $104.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $318.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as ACORE Capital, JPMorgan Chase, and Citibank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 474,817 square feet of built space are office properties, with specialty properties next occupying 33 percent of the space. The bulk, or 71 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 29 percent of the space.

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