Borough Developers plans 101-unit building in Fort Greene

Mendel Berkowitz, CEO of Borough Developers submitted a new building construction project for a 101-unit, 85,765 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 155 South Elliott Place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on November 29, 2023 under job number B00965124. It calls for the construction of a nine-story building. The project is described in the filing as: proposed new nine-story and cellar residential building. The architect is Kao Hwa Lee Architects Pc.

The project calls for residential uses on all floors and a parking garage on the first floor, but no retail or other uses.

The property

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 $6.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $38.9 million and was provided by Mizuho Bank on February 24, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold with another property by Salvation Army for $42.6 million to Slate Property Group on September 30, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received eight DOB violations, one housing violation, and $2,650 in OATH penalties in the last year.

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

The neighborhood

In Fort Greene, The bulk, or 34 percent of the 12.4 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Fort Greene has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $609.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Fort Greene has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 7th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 19 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the seven commercial properties representing 100,013 square feet of the 130,413 square feet. The two identified owners are MDG Design + Construction and Yoel Zagelbaum. On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 179,047 square feet. The largest is a 104-unit, 86,391 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by MDG Design + Construction and filed by Michael Rooney with plans filed May 15, 2019 and permitted March 31, 2022. The second largest is a 101-unit, 85,765 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Borough Developers and filed by Mendel Berkowitz with plans filed November 29, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Yoel Zagelbaum owned at least 15 commercial properties with 169 residential units in New York City with 340,116 square feet and a city-determined market value of $51.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $254.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Mizuho Bank, Bear Creek Asset Management, and BCTH Investors respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 31 percent of the 340,116 square feet of built space are nursing properties, with hotel properties next occupying 29 percent of the space. The bulk, or 42 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 34 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 141 South Elliott Place, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a new building permit issued on March 31, 2022 for a 86,391-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 104 residential units at 142 South Portland Avenue.

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