23.2.12
Sovereign Assemblage
At Cubed Advisory, we are sitting back and wondering what Sovereign Partners is planning for 28th Street. As the Full Story below states, they just picked up 140-144 West 28th for $20.5M. Currently an empty parking lot, there is nearly 76kSF available as of right. That makes for a land price of $270/sf and a world of exciting development possibilities.
What the story doesn't mention is that Sovereign picked up the adjacent property at 146 West 28th back in September for $13.5M. Sovereign swept the note on that building out from it's then owner Ben Shaoul at a significant discount to the $28M P&I in default at the time. Shaoul went on to sue Sovereign with apparently no success.
This previous acquisition adds 46kSF buildable, bringing the assemblage total to 122kSF at a land price of $278/sf. However, as they say on TV 'but wait, there's more...'. Massey Knakal had previously been listing 140-144 and 146 West 28th as one package with mention of additional air rights available from 141-143 and 145-147 West 28th. That's a possibly 48kSF of air rights. Anyone curious enough to read the loan docs and look for that air?
At the low end Sovereign has large as of right space on a big lot. At the high end, they have even more and guaranteed views over air rights to the north and east. Given the zoning and the market, a fast hotel play would be the obvious choice. However, it is more space than the current trend of boutique or discount hotel typically wants in one place.
We will be watching this site with interest.
Labels: Ben Shaoul, Chelsea, development, lots, Massey Knakal, sales, Sovereign Partners
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