Alchemy Ventures pays $5.9M for mixed-use in Carroll Gardens

Alchemy Ventures through the entity Keystone 374-376 Court LLC paid $5.9 million to Howard Hershkovich through the entity Sis Court LLC for midblock five-unit mixed-use building at 374 Court Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on October 8, 2021 and was recorded on March 16, 2022. The property has 7,400 square feet of built space and 390 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 7,800 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $794 and the price per buildable square foot is $753 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The seller bought the property on August 27, 2020, for $858,421. The signatory for Howard Hershkovich was Howard Hershkovich. The signatory for Alchemy Ventures was Samuel Kooris.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer Alchemy Ventures purchased 20 properties in 19 transactions for a total of $88.7 million and sold one properties in one transactions for a total of $2.8 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Howard Hershkovich purchased 10 properties in seven transactions for a total of $52 million and sold one properties in one transactions for a total of $2.1 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Howard Hershkovich, head officer and Avi Singer, head officer. The business entities are Tissa Management and Sis Court, Llc.

The property

The 374 Court Street parcel has frontage of 40 feet and is 65 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,600 square feet. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received five housing violations and $800 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Carroll Gardens, the majority, or 53 percent of the 9 million square feet of built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Carroll Gardens has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $90.2 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Carroll Gardens has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 43,794 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 0.48 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 14 commercial properties representing 18,282 square feet of the 88,687 square feet. The largest owner is Westbridge Realty Group, followed by DSA Property Group and then Davean Holdings. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 31 percent of the 189,277 square feet of built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Howard Hershkovich owned at least 12 commercial properties with 224,126 square feet and a city-determined market value of $22.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $38.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as Greystone & Co., New York Community Bank, and Investors Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 60 percent of the 224,126 square feet of built space are residential walkup properties, with residential elevator properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. The bulk, or 45 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 31 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Alchemy Ventures owned at least 36 commercial properties with 336,810 square feet and a city-determined market value of $94.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $62.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as Fortress Investment Group, Citibank, and Ready Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 85 percent of the 336,810 square feet of built space are residential walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 15 percent of the space. The bulk, or 61 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 38 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 374 Court Street, Pincusco identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those two items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $54.6 million. The most recent of the two was Meadow Partners which borrowed $43.5 million from Fortress Investment Group secured by the 9,577-square-foot, five-unit mixed-use building (S9) on 368 Court Street and 11 other properties on January 4, 2022.

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