Aaron Katz signs $29M refi loan with Starwood for new office building in Borough Park

Aaron Katz through the entity Ft 5402 LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Starwood Mortgage Capital valued at $29 million for the new office building at 5402 Fort Hamilton Parkway in Borough Park, Brooklyn.
There was a new building project filed, B00529596, for a 53,629 square-foot office building submitted by Royal Builders and filed by Joshua Markovics with plans filed October 4, 2021 and permitted January 4, 2024.
The loan closed on November 19, 2024 and was recorded on November 22, 2024. The prior lender was Ponce Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $15.5 million.
The owner bought the property on September 17, 2021, for $6.2 million. The signatory for Aaron Katz was Aaron Katz. The signatory for Starwood Mortgage Capital was Leslie K. Fairbanks.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 122 feet and is 101 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,244 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $245,000. The most recent loan totaled $15.5 million and was provided by Ponce Bank on May 2, 2023.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $6,200 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Borough Park, The bulk, or 25 percent of the 23.3 million square feet of commercial built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Borough Park has 2.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $634.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 6th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Borough Park has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 29 commercial properties representing 39,368 square feet of the 154,105 square feet. The largest owner is Pinnacle Group, followed by Weng Zhen Shuo and then Danny Cheung.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 104,307 square feet. The largest is a 53,629 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Royal Builders and filed by Joshua Markovics with plans filed October 4, 2021 and permitted January 4, 2024. The second largest is a 50,678 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Mitchell Hirth with plans filed April 21, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 77 percent of the 154,105 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space.

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