News

A pre-war Tudor-style apartment building at 155 Garth Road, located between Popham and Harney Road in Scarsdale, New York, was sold in an all cash transaction valued at $10,375,000.

The brick five-story building is approximately 59,783 square feet and sits on a 520’ x 135’ lot. The building was built in 1923 and has recently been renovated with new kitchens and bathrooms and upgrades to the common areas. There are 39 units, including 3 one-bedroom units, 26 two-bedroom units, and 10 three-bedroom units. All units have a working fireplace and two bathrooms. The transaction occurred at a capitalization rate of 5.25% and a price per unit cost of $266,000.   

First Vice President of Sales John Barrett along with Vice President of Sales Swain Weiner and Associate Darragh Clarke exclusively represented the seller, Laurel Capital, and found the undisclosed buyer.

"The property has significant upside due to its very strong location and the small amount of available rental product on Garth Road. Of the 16 residential buildings nearby, all but 2 were converted to either co-op in the 1980’s or condominium form of ownership in the 1990’s. There is very strong demand for such high quality rental units in the current market,” said John Barrett.

“There was an extraordinary high level of interest in the property; we received well over 40 offers from both operators and condominium converters. The buyer plans to operate the property as a rental property in the future,” added Swain Weiner.

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Neighborhoods: Westchester County

Two adjacent corner mixed-use buildings with rear parking lot in prime Carroll Gardens. The buildings include twelve rent stabilized units over two stores. Unique investment-development opportunity, great long-term upside on rare corner lot and possibility of developing the parking lot.

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Neighborhoods: Carroll Gardens

A retail property at 64-68 West 125th Street, located between Lenox and Fifth Avenues in the heart of Harlem, was sold in an all cash transaction valued at $7,100,000.

The single story property is approximately 7,569 square feet and sits on a 75’ x 100.92’ lot.  There are three retail units that are substantially below market rate. The property benefits from 75 feet of frontage on the 125th Street and significant air rights.  The sale price equates to approximately $938 per square foot.

“With the leases set to expire in a few months and the huge amount of air rights, this property is extremely attractive,” said Massey Knakal First Vice President of Sales Jeffrey A. Shalom who exclusively handled this transaction with Director of Sales Lev Kimyagarov. “There was strong interest from several local owners as well as many other retail investors and developers. Within weeks of marketing this property, we received an aggressive offer from a local owner who was able to close within a few days after signing the contract,” added Shalom.

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Neighborhoods: Harlem/ Agents: Jeffrey Shalom

Without a doubt, the Manhattan hotel segment of the market has surged this year. Since hotels are not subject to long term leases and adjust their income daily, their pricing and demand can shift quickly.

Massey Knakal Realty Services, NYC’s #1 building sales firm, is pleased to announce the release of their exclusive Mid-Year 2011 Property Sales Reports. These unique, industry-leading, reports provides a comprehensive study of the investment sales market by product type in the entire New York City area (Manhattan, Northern Manhattan/Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens).

During the first half of 2011, there was $12.6B in NYC property sales, a 52% increase from 2H10 and 103% from 1H10. This is the highest dollar output since 1H08. Thus far, there have been 960 properties sold, representing an annualized turnover of 1.16%.

The Brooklyn market has outpaced all markets with 336 property sales through 1H11, or 35% of total properties sold. Manhattan leads all markets in terms of dollar volume with $11B of sales or 90% of the $12.6B sold citywide.

The highlights from each report include the following:

Manhattan (south of 96th Street on the east side and south of 110th Street on the west side)
·    251 transactions occurred, a 12% increase over 2H10 and an increase of 29% over 1H10
·    277 properties sold, an increase of 14% from 2H10 and 20% from 1H10
·    The aggregate sales consideration was $11.0B, an increase of 56% over 2H10, and an increase of 124% over 1H10.  The $7.9B from 2Q10, produced the highest quarterly dollar volume in the past 14 quarters

Brooklyn
·    286 transactions occurred, an 8% increase over 2H10 and an increase of 17% from 1H10
·    336 properties sold, an increase of 14% from 2H10 and an increase of 23% from 1H10
·    The aggregate sales consideration was $700M, an increase of 54% over 2H10, and 38% from the $508M in 1H10

Queens
·    148 transactions occurred, an increase of 16% from 2H10 and down 3% from 1H10
·    164 properties sold, an increase of 21% from 2H10, but down 4% from 1H10’s 171 properties sold
·    The aggregate sales consideration was $452M, an increase of 52% over 2H10, and 74% from 1H10

Northern Manhattan (north of 96th St. east of Central Park and north of 110th St. west of Central Park)
·    44 transactions occurred, down 12% from 2H10 and down 17% from 1H10
·    69 properties sold, an increase of  13% from 2H10 and 5% from 1H10
·    The aggregate sales consideration was $167M, down 4% from 2H10, and down 50% from 1H10

The Bronx
·    85 transactions occurred, a 13% increase from 2H10 and 8% from 1H10
·    114 properties sold through 1H11, an increase of 18% from 2H10, and a 21% increase from 1H10
·    The aggregate sales consideration was $283M, down 3% from 2H10, but up 46% from 1H10

“While market wide trends are clearly moving positively, the investment sales market in New York City is somewhat uneven. Larger asset sales are skewing total dollar volume higher while the number of properties sold is lagging,” said Massey Knakal Chairman and Founding Partner Robert A. Knakal. “Values in Manhattan are generally trending upward while the properties in the outer boroughs are still trying to find their footing,” added Knakal.

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This 68' wide opportunity consists of a walk-up building (can be delivered vacant) and adjacent vacant lot, on East 62nd Street, between Second and Third Avenue. The property benefits from convenient access to the Queens/Midtown Tunnel, the FDR, and the major east side hospitals. This is an ideal opportunity for a new institutional end user to develop a new facility in the heart of the coveted Upper East Side. Ideal users would include hospitals, non-profit organizations, foreign governments, private schools, charter schools, or religious institutions. The location also make residential development a real possibility.

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Neighborhoods: Upper East Side, Midtown East

A 16.67' wide, 4.5 story Romanesque Revival townhouse built circa 1895 by John G. Prague. The house is configured as 9 Rent Stabilized apartments consisting of 8 studios and a one-bedroom penthouse. Two of the apartments will be vacating and 4 others are on preferential leases. Much of the property's detail has been maintained including the original wooden staircase, fireplaces, wainscoting, and high ceilings with intricate moldings. The house is heated by a #2 oil-fired boiler, is individually metered for electric, and contains one gas meter. The property lies within the Upper West Side – Central Park West Historic district and is an excellent opportunity for a buyer looking for a value-add investment.

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Neighborhoods: Upper West Side

The subject property is a 3 story, 5,506 square foot warehouse-loft space on the south side of Madison Street between 1st and 2nd Street. The building has a 10’w x 10’h drive-through with a curb-cut. This is an excellent opportunity for industrial storage or an artists, dance, or yoga studio. The property can easily be converted into loft space living. Ownership will sell or lease (NNN) the property.

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Neighborhoods: Hudson County

A mixed-use building at 1115 Manhattan Avenue, located on the corner of Manhattan Avenue and Clay Street in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, was sold in an all cash transaction valued at $950,000.

The three-story brick building is approximately 6,750 square feet and sits on a 25' x 100' lot.  There is 2,125 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and two apartments above. The second and third floors suffered from fire damage and will require some repairs. The sale price equates to approximately $140 per square foot.

"There was a tremendous amount of interest in the property, mainly due to the growing popularity of Greenpoint and a price point of less than one million dollars," said Massey Knakal Director of Sales Mark Lively who exclusively handled this transaction with Director of Sales Brendan Maddigan. "In just one month of marketing the building, over fifty people toured the property, over two dozen offers were received and a closing occurred in a little over a week from the contract signing," added Maddigan.

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Neighborhoods: Greenpoint/ Agents: Mark Lively

With all the recent uncertainty in the stock market, real estate is looking like a very favorable asset class. It’s the only hard asset which cash flows, as gold and other commodities purely benefit from appreciation.  Decent returns are available in Manhattan. Receiving a 6-7% return with long term upside is an attractive alternative to parking money in treasuries.