Alembic pays $10.5M for dev site in Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Alembic Community Development through the entity HSVS Alembic Manager LLC acquired control from the Rabizadeh family and others through the entity 3rd Avenue Retail Enterprises LLC for the industrial building (G6) at 245 Clarkson Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. The sale price was $10.5 million. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on August 2, 2024 and was recorded on August 7, 2024. The property has zero square feet of built space and 57,105 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 57,105 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $183 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 signatories for the sellers were Albert Rabizadeh, Daniel Rabizadeh, Mehrdad Kahan, Said Makhany, and Alex Rabizadeh. The signatory for Alembic Community Development was Benjamin Warnke. The contract date was July 30, 2024. Benjamin Warnke is principal of Alembic and signed for Alembic in a related document assigning all beneficial ownership to Alembic.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Alembic Community Development purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $14.7 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Albert Rabizadeh had not purchased any other properties and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $3.4 million over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 192 feet and is 122 feet deep with a total lot size of 23,500 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 $1 million.

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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Prospect Lefferts Gardens, The majority, or 55 percent of the 11.1 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Prospect Lefferts Gardens has the 40th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Brooklyn with $68.3 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Prospect Lefferts Gardens has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 196,844 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 six of the 28 commercial properties representing 163,930 square feet of the 266,424 square feet. The largest owner is Jacob Schwimmer, followed by Joseph Freund and then Plenitude Capital (Lender To Brookland Capital).
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 18,229 square feet. The largest is a 13-unit, 10,089 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Boaz Gilad with plans filed June 12, 2015 and permitted March 17, 2016. The second largest is a nine-unit, 8,140 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Cory Eliyahu with plans filed June 30, 2021 and permitted February 7, 2023.

The majority, or 41 percent of the 266,424 square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Albert Rabizadeh owned at least 18 commercial properties with 11 residential units in New York City with 63,540 square feet and a city-determined market value of $27.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $36.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Flushing Bank, Columbia Capital, and SKW Funding respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 63,540 square feet of built space are retail properties, with industrial properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. The bulk, or 48 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 39 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Mehrdad Kahan owned at least six commercial properties with 20 residential units in New York City with 50,413 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 50,413 square feet of built space are P9 properties, with walkup properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 75 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 25 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Said Makhany owned at least two commercial properties with 14 residential units in New York City with 8,625 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, all identified are walkup properties. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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