Maddd Equities to Convert Parking Lot and Self-Storage to Housing

NEW YORK CITY—Maddd Equities and Joy Construction received $51 million in two separate loans to complete acquisitions in the Bronx and Brooklyn. The joint venture acquired 27,675 square feet of paved parking at 1150-1159 River Ave. in the Bronx for $35 million. The lot is at the intersection at McClellan Street. The owner was the River Avenue Realty Corporation, according to PropertyShark. In a separate transaction, the buyers purchased the 115,000 square-foot American Self Storage Building at 202-208 Tillary St. for $60 million from Warren Diamond.

The developers plan to construct two affordable housing towers at the Bronx River Avenue parcel. The project will include 172,000 square feet of residential space, ground-level retail and underground parking.

The new owners will continue to operate the Tillary site as self-storage before converting it into a 235,000 square-foot residential building. The project will operate under the city’s mandatory inclusionary housing policy with permanently affordable housing in 25% of its units.

Brad Domenico of Progress Capital arranged the loans of $21 million for the Bronx property and $30 million for the Brooklyn property. He negotiated the amounts and terms with Jared Zimmel, who represented the lender, Natixis. Both financings are interest-only bridge loans to provide time for the owners to execute their development plans. Neal Sroka of Douglas Elliman brokered both sides of the sales transactions.

“Parking lots and self-storage facilities are an often misunderstood asset class, and as such securing a mortgage when acquiring such properties can be challenging with the difficulty in forecasting future projections and potential uses while navigating zoning and height restrictions for future development,” says Jorge Madruga of Maddd Equities. “Working with Domenico we were able to not only secure financing quickly, but also increase the leverage of both borrowings with flexible prepayment terms.”