Aurora Capital Pays $55.7M for Full 609 Second Ave Condo

Aurora Capital Associates paid $55,720,000 to take over every unit in the newly built condominium at 609 Second Avenue in Kips Bay, a deed recorded Oct. 26 with the New York City Register shows. The buyer, an entity called 609 2nd Partners LLC, bought out three affiliates of The Leser Group, Brooklyn based developer David Marom’s firm, erasing a unit by unit sellout plan and putting the 18 story building under one owner.

Why it matters

The Leser Group filed plans for a 71 unit condominium at 609 Second Avenue in November 2023 and, the year before, borrowed $58 million from Ponce Bank to build it. A bulk sale to a single buyer at $55.72 million, instead of years of individual closings, lets the sponsor exit in one transaction rather than carry inventory through a slower sellout. For Aurora Capital Associates, the deed adds another Manhattan asset to a run that has also included a joint venture stake in 568 Broadway in SoHo and a large mortgage on 40 Tenth Avenue, both already on the record this year.

The numbers

The deed covers Lot 1201 and Lots 1202 through 1266 on Block 914, the full run of residential units numbered 201 through PH4, a block of at least 65 apartments plus one additional unit, against the 71 units in the Leser Group’s 2023 condo plan. That gap between the filed plan and the lots named in the deed is on the public record and unresolved. The $55.72 million price compares with the $58 million construction loan the sponsor took from Ponce Bank in 2023, meaning the bulk sale came in below that financing figure, though the loan funded construction rather than a prior sale of these units, so the two numbers are not a like for like resale comparison.

What’s next

The deed does not say whether Aurora Capital Associates intends to rent the units, resume condo sales under its own name, or hold the building as a single asset. No subsequent ACRIS filing, condo plan amendment or DOB filing had posted as of this writing. The pattern to watch is whether Aurora, which also holds a mortgage on 40 Tenth Avenue, keeps assembling stabilized Manhattan assets or begins filing to convert this one. More on New York deals.