Anonymous buyer pays $9M for Gowanus dev site

An anonymous buyer in care of the law firm Seyfarth Shaw, paid $9 million for two-parcel development site in Gowanus, Brooklyn, in two transactions.

In the first, the entity 544 Union Street Property Owner LLC paid $5 million to Christopher Merone through the entity 544&546 Union Realty LLC for the four-unit mixed-use building (S4) at 544-546 Union Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on June 27, 2025 and was recorded on July 8, 2025. The property has 6,956 square feet of built space and 3,852 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 10,800 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $718 and the price per buildable square foot is $462 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.)
Christopher Marone bought the property on December 10, 2004, for $600,000.

In the second, the entity 548 Union Street Property Owner LLC paid $4 million to Christopher Merone through the entity 548-550 Union Realty LLC for the industrial building (E9) at 548-550 Union Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on June 27, 2025 and was recorded on July 8, 2025. The property has 4,552 square feet of built space and 6,264 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 10,800 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $878 and the price per buildable square foot is $370 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 February 28, 2024, for $4 million.
The signatory for Christopher Merone was Christopher J. Merone . The signatory for the buyer was Seyfarth Shaw attorney Jay H. Levinton . The contract date was January 23, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Seyfarth Shaw registered had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Christopher Merone purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $4 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is Christopher Merone, head officer. The business entity is 544-546 Union Realty Llc.

The property

The zoning is M1-4/R6A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for one of the properties in 2022 was $657,000.

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 one DOB violation and $350 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Gowanus, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 9.2 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space. In sales, Gowanus has 2.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $748.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 5th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gowanus has 1.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 24 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 20 commercial properties representing 26,592 square feet of the 62,238 square feet. The largest owner is Brodsky Organization, followed by Avery Hall Investments and then Christopher Merone.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 67,431 square feet. It is a 67,431 square-foot mercantile (M) building submitted by Avery Hall and filed by Colin Mclean with plans filed October 7, 2020 and permitted April 22, 2022.

The majority, or 47 percent of the 62,238 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Christopher Merone owned at least two commercial properties with three residential units in New York City with 8,952 square feet and a city-determined market value of $2.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 51 percent of the 8,952 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 49 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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