Owner files 69-unit, 8-story Bronx building 624 days after deed

A Bronx owner filed to build 8 stories and 69 apartments at 65 West 181st Street in University Heights, 624 days after the lot changed hands for $1,325,000. The New Building filing, X01455123-I1, went into DOB NOW on Sept. 4.

Why it matters

For builders and land buyers, this is a clean look at what a Bronx assemblage-free lot cost against what the owner now proposes to put on it. The deed price divided by 69 proposed units is about $19,203 per proposed unit. Against 40,468.8 sq ft of proposed construction floor area, it is about $33 per sq ft of proposed floor area (a figure we computed, not one on the filing).

The gap between deed and filing is the other signal. The buyer held the site for about 20 months before the plans reached the Department of Buildings, which is the window a developer spends on design, financing and zoning work.

The numbers

The deed, ACRIS document 2024122600289001, is dated Dec. 19, 2024 and was recorded Jan. 2, 2025. The buyer is 65 West 181 Realty LLC, with a Great Neck mailing address. The sellers are two individuals. The record carries no sponsor brand, so the buyer entity is unmasked only as far as the filing: DOB lists AFS Systems Inc as the owner business name, and the architect of record is Nikolai Katz Architect. We could not confirm from the record how the two entities relate.

The filing describes a proposed new 8-story residential building with 69 dwelling units, on block 3207, lot 29. Its status as of Sept. 10 was Plan Examiner Review. Initial cost is listed as $0, so no construction budget is on the record.

What’s next

A filing is a proposal, not an approval. The plan examiner has to clear the application before permits issue, and the record shows no financing or construction start. We will check this filing again for status changes. For a comparable Bronx move, see 2814 Morris Avenue, 16 stories and 99 units, 99 days after deed, and our wider coverage in New York.