Yellow Jacket Ventures signs $16M refi for newly built 55-unit rental in Mt Hope

Yellow Jacket Ventures through the entity Hope Place LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Amalgamated Bank valued at $16 million for the 55-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 19-21 Mount Hope Place in Mt Hope, Bronx.
The deal closed on December 29, 2023 and was recorded on January 12, 2024. The prior lender was NorthEast Community Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $12.2 million.
The property has 35,491 square feet of built space and 2,124 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 37,618 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $450 and the price per buildable square foot is $425 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 Yellow Jacket Ventures was Akiva Kurland. The signatory for Amalgamated Bank was Jacob Nimmer.

The property

The residential elevator building with 55 residential units in Mt Hope has 35,491 square feet of built space and 2,124 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 37,618 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 125 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,249 square feet. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $906,000. The most recent loan totaled $12.2 million and was provided by Northeast Community Bank on March 9, 2022.

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 $2,900 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on December 14, 2023. 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 five of the 10 commercial properties representing 87,027 square feet of the 131,650 square feet. The largest owner is Yellow Jacket Ventures, followed by Samuel Jacobowitz and then Neighborhood Restore Housing Development Fund Corporation.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 85 percent of the 131,650 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Yellow Jacket Ventures owned at least four commercial properties with 108 residential units in New York City with 48,490 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $17.7 million in debt, borrowed from Northeast Community Bank and Citibank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 86 percent of the 48,490 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with development properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 56 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 44 percent of the space.

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