William Schneider takes title to bankrupt dev site in Greenwich Village, $13.5M transfer value

William Schneider as signatory through the entity 307-309 Holdings LLC acquired 307 and 309 Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, where he plans a 39-unit project. The former owner was George Filopoulos, who defaulted on a $9.3 million loan from Castellan Capital. The property was placed in bankruptcy in 2023 to effectuate a sale.
William Schneider submitted a new building construction project for a 39-unit, 22,339 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 307 to 309 Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on November 22, 2022 under job number M00791192.
The transfer closed on September 5, 2023 and was recorded on October 26, 2023. The two properties have 9,950 square feet of built space and 13,282 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 23,247 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,356 and the price per buildable square foot is $580 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 the bankrupt entity was Vladislav Tsirkin. The signatory for William Schneider was William Schneider. The contract date was July 31, 2023. This is a sale through the bankruptcy case 23-10027-jpm.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer William Schneider had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The former owner George Filopoulos had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The retail building in Greenwich Village has 9,950 square feet of built space and 13,282 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 23,247 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 17 feet and is 144 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,692 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.2 million. The most recent loan totaled 0.0 and was provided by 307-309 Sixth Avenue LLC on December 28, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in onw lawsuit and two bankruptcies over the past several years. The highest value bankruptcy was filed on January 9, 2023, by David Goldwasser and 307 Assets LLC citing assets of $22.7 million. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received four DOB violations in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 39-unit, 22,339 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by William Schneider and filed by William Schneider with plans filed November 22, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Greenwich Village, The bulk, or 24 percent of the 22.4 million square feet of commercial built space are specialty buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Greenwich Village has 3.1 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 11th highest in Manhattan. For development, Greenwich Village has 2.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block PincusCo has identified the owners of 16 of the 32 commercial properties representing 100,394 square feet of the 192,273 square feet. The largest owner is William Gottlieb Real Estate, followed by Vishwaas and then Sol Goldman Investments.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 22,339 square feet. It is a 39-unit, 22,339 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by William Schneider and filed by William Schneider with plans filed November 22, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 46 percent of the 192,273 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 43 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that William Schneider owned at least one commercial property with 23 residential units in New York City with 16,135 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $7.8 million in debt, borrowed from New York Community Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property. It is located in Manhattan.

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