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Prolific Kips Bay developer adds four more neighborhood buildings to portfolio
- jackh65
- 5 minutes ago
- 2 min read
A prolific Kips Bay developer has added four additional buildings in the Manhattan neighborhood to his portfolio.
The entity Nere Rose Hill Management, which appears to be affiliated with Bentley Zhao's development and construction management firm New Empire Corp., paid a combined $37.9 million for the quartet of mixed-use properties at 247 E. 31st St. and 563, 567 and 569 Second Ave., records show.
Zhao, who used a similarly named entity in 2021 to acquire a nearby site for $14.8 million, did not sign the actual deeds but is listed as the signatory for a $24.6 million loan from Emerald Creek Capital that is tied to the four adjacent mixed-use buildings.
The seller of the properties, all located between East 31st and East 32nd streets, was Dean Marchi, through the entities Imperial Estates, Marchi Realty Corp. and Marchi's Restaurant — a family-owned-and-operated Italian restaurant that closed in 2019 after 90 years in business.
It is unclear what Zhao's plans are for the properties, which are currently home to about 60 residential units in total, none of which are available — a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment was last rented in November 2024 for $4,750, according to StreetEasy. The buildings also contain ground-floor retail space, a portion of which is occupied by a Verizon store. Another slot was formerly the home of the longtime restaurant but now appears vacant.
Zhao's firm has been active in the neighborhood for years. In less than two decades, New Empire Corp. has had a hand in 120 projects either as a developer or as a construction company, the firm previously told Crain's.
A native of China who immigrated to the U.S. in 2000 at the age of 22, Zhao's first go-it-alone project was a 2008 condo development in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. About a decade later he landed his first in Manhattan, bringing a 7-unit condo online at 409 W. 45th St. in Hell's Kitchen. New Empire's Kips Bay projects include a 62,000-square-foot, 55-unit development at 148 E. 24th St. and a 12-story, 60,000-square-foot development with 59 condos at 429 Second Ave., located between East 24th and East 25th streets, Crain's previously reported.
Zhao did not respond to a request for comment by press time, and Marchi declined to comment.
