Witkoff buys out GE pension fund partner valued at $50M at 246-unit UWS rental

Witkoff Group through the entity WG Columbus 95th LLC acquired an interest from investment partner the General Electric Pension Fund through the entity Gept Columbus LLC valued at $50 million for a stake in the 246-unit residential elevator building (D1) at Columbus House at 721 Columbus Avenue in Upper West Side, Manhattan.
Witkoff has been a co-owner in the property since 2006, when it led a group that bought it for $68 million from Cord Meyer Development, according to city records.
The partnership interest deal closed on December 9, 2022 and was recorded on December 19, 2022. The property has 308,302 square feet of built space and 11,849 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 320,260 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $162 and the price per buildable square foot is $156 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 3, 2006, for $68 million.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development include James Stomber, head officer and Isuf Cekovic, site manager. The business entities are The Witkoff Group LLC and Columbus 95th Street LLC. The 308,302-square-foot property generated revenue of $4.9 million or $16 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The parcel has three buildings with frontage of 201 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 32,026 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C1-9 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 $18 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 three DOB violations, $5,625 in ECB penalties, 23 housing violations, and $8,625 in OATH penalties 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 20 commercial properties representing 40,497 square feet of the 423,297 square feet. The largest owner is Brett Haber, followed by Christian Fellowship Center and then Aria Abraham Goldstein.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 78 percent of the 393,836 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space.

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