$9.5M Bushwick dev site lease signed, Chaskel Landau identified as ground tenant

The Manhattan-based MKF Group as landlord representative executed a 99-year ground lease valued at $9.5 million for a Bushwick development site at 301 Himrod Street last month, according to sources familiar with the deal, with a developer as ground tenant, identified as 301 Himrod LLC. The parcel is a 16,500-square-foot parking lot in an R6 zoning district providing about 36,300 square feet of buildable potential, valuing the land at about $262 per square foot. The site is also known as 343 Himrod Street.
PincusCo, using the ground tenant LLC, identified the developer as Chaskel Landau, a major landlord and a developer, who also uses the business name LC Management USA.

MKF Group, which also uses the name MKF Realty, is an affiliate of the large Argentinian developer Raghsa, which bought the parcel in 2015 for $9.5 million.

A team from Matthews Real Estate Investment Services led by DJ Johnston represented the landlord and brokered the transaction.
The ground lease closed on January 6, 2025.

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Chaskel Landau owned at least 27 commercial properties with 173,564 square feet, 206 residential units and a city-determined market value of $34 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $59.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as S3 Capital, Broadview Capital, and Golden Bridge Funding respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 47 percent of the 173,564 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 125 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 16,500 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.22 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $379,000.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold for $9.5 million on August 27, 2015.

Development

On September 18, 2015, MKF Realty and RAGHSA submitted a new building construction project for a 55-unit, 46,341 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 301 Himrod Street. The plan was filed on September 18, 2015. It called for the construction of a 124-foot tall, 12-story building and was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number 320909424. The project is described in the filing as: new residential apartment building with community facility and commercial use. That building was not constructed.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $1,200 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Bushwick, The bulk, or 44 percent of the 33.6 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Bushwick has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $476.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 11th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Bushwick has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 19th highest in Brooklyn. It had 777,448 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 22 of the 40 commercial properties representing 125,635 square feet of the 205,445 square feet. The largest owner is Anthony Dirusso, followed by Moses Mizrahi and then Spiro Grigoropoulos. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 46,341 square feet. It is a 55-unit, 46,341 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by MKF Realty|RAGHSA and filed by Adam Smith with plans filed September 18, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 301 Himrod Street, PincusCo identified four commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those four items, four were loans above $5 million totaling $96 million. The most recent of the four was Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in which borrowed $20 million from NYS Dormitory Authority secured by the 458,778-square-foot, three-unit three-family building (C0) on 342 Stanhope Street and six other properties on October 28, 2024.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.