Andrew Eckstein pays $3.2M for mixed-use in Bushwick

Andrew Eckstein through the entity Greenpoint Meserole Holdings LLC paid $3.2 million to Sophia Crown through the entity Kukubird LLC for the five-unit mixed-use building (S5) at 169 Irving Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on January 4, 2023 and was recorded on February 8, 2023. The property has 5,400 square feet of built space and 432 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 5,832 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $601 and the price per buildable square foot is $557 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 September 4, 2013, for $1.4 million. The signatory for Sophia Crown was Sophia Crown. The signatory for Andrew Eckstein was Elaine Gay, a notary. Andrew B. Eckstein signed for the loan.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Andrew Eckstein had purchased any other properties and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $4.9 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Sophia Crown had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is Sophia Crown, head officer. The business entity is Kukubird Llc. The 5,400-square-foot property generated revenue of $104,274 or $19 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 169 Irving Avenue parcel has frontage of 24 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,400 square feet. 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 $885,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $50 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 Bushwick, the bulk, or 44 percent of the 33.5 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Bushwick has 3.1 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 3rd highest in Brooklyn. For development, Bushwick has 1.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 12th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.5 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. 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 13 of the 35 commercial properties representing 59,340 square feet of the 158,456 square feet. The largest owner is Xiao Yong Lin, followed by Suruj Naraine and then RiseBoro Community Partnership.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 50,736 square feet. The largest is a 30-unit, 31,776-square-foot R-2 building developed by Xiao Yong Lin with plans filed April 19, 2018 and permitted July 1, 2021. The second largest is a eight-unit, 5,500-square-foot R-2 building developed by Xiao Lin with plans filed April 29, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 69 percent of the 142,049 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 12 percent of the space.

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