Astral Weeks, Miguel Oks pay $23M for retail with development potential in Greenpoint

Development firm Astral Weeks and investor Miguel Oks through the entity 111 Franklyn LLC paid $23 million to the principals of the defunct Simon Baron Development and its partner Beach Point Capital Management through the entity 12 Franklin 197 LLC for the retail building (K4) at 12 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

RIPCO Real Estate marketed the property as a potential development site with 133,769 square feet of development potential. The existing building is a single-story retail property.

The deal closed on October 26, 2023 and was recorded on November 13, 2023. The property has 30,260 square feet of built space and 25,274 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 55,548 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data, but the property has an approved special permit that increases the potential to 133,769 square feet. The sale price per built square foot is $760 and the price per buildable square foot is $172 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 13, 2016, for $5.6 million. The signatory for Simon Baron Development was Jonathan Simon. The signatory for Astral Weeks and Miguel Oks was Raymond Roubeni. The contract date was January 12, 2023. The seller entities were in care of Beach Point Capital Management because Simon Baron Development disbanded several years ago. Beach Point was a preferred equity partner according to a person familiar with the transaction. The brokers were RIPCO Real Estate’s Stephen Preuss and Kevin Schmitz.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Astral Weeks had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Simon Baron Development had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $3.1 million over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building in Greenpoint has 30,260 square feet of built space and 25,274 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 55,548 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 115 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 27,774 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-2 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.6 million. The most recent loan totaled $22.5 million and was provided by Centennial Bank on December 24, 2019.

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 $1,500 in ECB penalties and $1,500 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on February 27, 2014. 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 Greenpoint, The bulk, or 29 percent of the 23.7 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Greenpoint has 1.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $649.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Greenpoint has 2.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 8th 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 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the four commercial properties representing 30,260 square feet of the 54,086 square feet. The identified owner is Simon Baron Development.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 56 percent of the 54,086 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 33 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Simon Baron Development owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 47,485 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $22.5 million in debt, borrowed from Centennial Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 64 percent of the 47,485 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with industrial properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. The bulk, or 64 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 36 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Astral Weeks owned at least 11 commercial properties with 106 residential units in New York City with 99,400 square feet and a city-determined market value of $21.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $46.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Israel Discount Bank, Piermont Bank, and Starwood Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 72 percent of the 99,400 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 26 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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