Bentley Zhao’s New Empire files to demolish 5 buildings in Flatbush, no NB plans filed yet

Bentley Zhao, CEO of New Empire Corp. through the entity Nere Flatbush Management LLC submitted a demolition application for the demolition of five buildings including the commercial (COM) building at 21 Lenox Road and 757 to 765 Flatbush Avenue, in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The plans were filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on January 10, 2023, under job number 322107215 and others. They each call for the demolition of a one-story building.
New Empire has not yet filed new building plans for those parcels, according to a review of city data.
Bentley Zhao’s New Empire Corp. through the entity Nere Flatbush Management LLC paid $18 million to Steven Neuman through the entity 21 Lenox LLC for the industrial building (G2) at 21 Lenox Road in Flatbush, Brooklyn, retail building (K1) at 765 Flatbush Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and retail building (K1) at 757 Flatbush Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on October 24, 2022 and was recorded on November 3, 2022. The five properties have 21,861 square feet of built space and 86,264 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 108,052 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $823 and the price per buildable square foot is $166 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 property

The most recent loan totaled $10 million and was provided by Columbia Capital on October 24, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Flatbush, The majority, or 55 percent of the 37.9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Flatbush has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $373.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 17th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Flatbush has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 16th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 32 commercial properties representing 360,558 square feet of the 666,508 square feet. The largest owner is Barry Hers, followed by Bluejay Management and then David F. Schwarz. On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 59,763 square feet. The largest is a 43-unit, 32,956 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Marc Jacobowitz and filed by Marc Jacobowitz with plans filed March 30, 2020 and permitted January 28, 2022. The second largest is a 37-unit, 26,807 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Ofer Prager with plans filed January 25, 2016 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that New Empire Corp. owned at least 17 commercial properties with 223 residential units in New York City with 333,350 square feet. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $313.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as Fortress Investment Group, Popular Bank, and Axos Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 333,350 square feet of built space are D6 properties, with D7 properties next occupying 33 percent of the space. The bulk, or 60 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 35 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 23 Lenox Road, PincusCo identified seven commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those seven items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit issued on January 28, 2022 for a 32,956-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 43 residential units at 45 Lenox Road. Of those seven items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit issued on January 17, 2022 for the $4.4 million renovation of 20,296-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 27 residential units at 779 Flatbush Avenue. Of those seven items, five were loans above $5 million totaling $103.9 million. The most recent of the five was Bluejay Management in which borrowed $17.3 million from Bank of Princeton secured by the 0-square-foot development site (V0) on 45 Lenox Road on March 25, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.