I-sales recap: Maguire buys 49 Sheepshead Bay units for $19M

Marvin Azrak’s Maguire Capital has completed its acquisition of 49 unsold condominium units and related parkings spaces at a condo project in Sheepshead Bay, with a transfer value of $19.1 million.

Chaim Miller developed the mixed-use property in 2005 and has been struggling to sell the 75 apartments since. As the effort stalled, Miller defaulted on a $18 million loan from Investors Bank.

The bank filed a pre-foreclosure action in 2019 and Maguire bought the loan in 2021. Maguire has taken out a $19.5 million loan on the development from David Lichtenstein’s Lightstone Group.

Dubbed The Breakers, the property is located at 3144 Emmons Avenue and includes 72 commercial condos totaling 131,000 square feet. It’s just off the water of Sheepshead Bay.

More of last week’s investment sales in the middle market, defined as those between $10 million and $40 million, are below, ranked by dollar amount.

1.

Poseidon Services purchased a Financial District retail building from the Chera family’s Crown Acquisitions for $38 million. Chera had bought the building at 144 Fulton Street in 2015 for $25 million, inked Chick-fil-A to a lease, and listed the property this summer for $44 million.

The sale is a boost for the company as its retail portfolio suffered losses during the pandemic. Chick-fil-a, which leases all 8,600 square feet of the building, is paying about $2 million a year. The deal runs through 2038.

2.

Bruce Richards’ Marathon Asset Management purchased at auction a six-story office building next to Penn Station with a $16.8 million credit bid. Churchill Real Estate built the property, at 261 West 34th Street, in 2019, spending about $90 million. Marathon initiated a foreclosure in 2021 after Churchill defaulted on $52 million in refinanced construction debt.

3.

Juan Barahona’s SMJ Development has purchased an affordable housing development site next to St. John Cemetery in Rego Park for $12.5 million. The group takes over a plot on which the previous developer filed plans for an eight-story, 92-unit affordable housing complex. Settlement Housing Fund is the nominee on the project. The land, at 68-19 Woodhaven Boulevard, previously hosted a garden center and auto body shop.

4.

Real estate investment bank Bluestone Group acquired the site of a failed development in Borough Park for $12.3 million. The property, 4202 Fort Hamilton Parkway, was transferred out of bankruptcy on a credit bid. Bluestone lent $10 million to the previous owner, a group of investors led by Samuel Pfeiffer, which had bought it in 2017 for $5.3 million. The group declared bankruptcy on the project in 2019.

It took more than a decade for Pfeiffer to close on the deal after going into contract in 2005. Extension fees, litigation and settlements caused the delay and pushed up costs. At the time of closing, his group of investors and developers planned a seven-story building with office and community space. The site was previously home to a White Castle.

5.

Jeffrey Weiner purchased a four-story Upper East Side house for $10.1 million. Located at 163 East 69th Street, the building was constructed in 1909 and has five units across 8,000 square feet. The seller is the Chetrit family’s AB & Sons. The address on property records also traces to Patriarch Equities; Chetrit family members work for Patriarch as well. According to PincusCo, Weiner bought the neighboring house at 167 East 69th Street for $11 million in February 2020.