Beitel Group signs $48M refi loan with MF1 Capital for residential elevator in Flatbush

Beitel Group through the entity Pulse Bedford Development LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender MF1 Capital valued at $48 million for the 95-unit residential elevator building at 100 Lenox Road in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on May 12, 2022 and was recorded on June 2, 2022. The prior lender was Bank Hapoalim which held debt that had an original loan amount of $38 million. The property has 89,622 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $535 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 owner bought the property on January 10, 2018, for $4.8 million. The signatory for Beitel Group was Binyamin Beitel. The signatory for MF1 Capital was Jonathan Pfeil. Binyamin “Ben” Beitel is CEO of Beitel Group. 

The property

The 100 Lenox Road parcel has frontage of 91 feet and is 125 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,375 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.7 million. The most recent loan totaled $38 million and was provided by Bank Hapoalim on September 29, 2020.

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 $2,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there was one active new building construction project for a 95-unit, 198,477-square-foot R-2 building developed by Ben Beitel with plans filed October 5, 2018 and permitted October 1, 2020.

The neighborhood

In Flatbush, the bulk, or 47 percent of the 51.8 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Flatbush has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $208.8 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Flatbush has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 20th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1 million 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. There were two pre-foreclosure suit filed among other residential elevator buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 34 commercial properties representing 339,324 square feet of the 808,044 square feet. The largest owner is Shahram Mobasser, followed by Bronstein Properties and then Joseph Popack. There are three active new building construction projects totaling 283,269 square feet. The largest is a 95-unit, 198,477-square-foot R-2 building developed by Ben Beitel with plans filed October 5, 2018 and permitted October 1, 2020. The second largest is a 76-unit, 62,800-square-foot R-2 building developed by Harry Einhorn with plans filed November 8, 2019 and permitted July 23, 2020.

The majority, or 86 percent of the 864,657 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Beitel Group owned at least four commercial properties with 186,638 square feet and a city-determined market value of $12.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $75.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as BridgeCity Capital, Starwood Capital Group, and Citibank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 55 percent of the 186,638 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with P5 properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. The bulk, or 55 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 45 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 100 Lenox Road, Pincusco identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
It was a loan which David Malek borrowed $6.8 million from New York Community Bank secured by the 66,530-square-foot, 64-unit rental (D1) on 115 Lenox Road on July 8, 2021.

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