Brodsky Org. pays $80.3M to Avery Hall for 350-unit Gowanus dev site

Brodsky Organization paid $80.3 million to Avery Hall Investments for a development site at 499 President Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn with plans for 350 residential units in a 322,000-square-foot building. Crain’s first reported the sale, noting Avery Hall will retain ownership in the project. At the same time, M&T Bank provided a $155 million construction and acquisition loan. Brodsky bought the site in two transactions with a total of three tax lots.

In the first transaction, Brodsky Organization through the entity Gowanus President Owner LLC paid $76 million to Avery Hall Investments through the entity 473 President LLC for the industrial building (F5) at 514 Union Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn and development building (V1) at 469-499 President Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on April 28, 2023 and was recorded on May 18, 2023. The two properties have 17,000 square feet of built space.
The signatory for Avery Hall Investments was Brian Ezra. The signatory for Brodsky Organization was Daniel Brodsky.

In the second transaction, Brodsky Organization through the entity Gowanus President Owner LLC paid $4.3 million to Avery Hall Investments through the entity Union And Nevins LLC for the retail building (K2) at 305-307 Nevins Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on April 28, 2023 and was recorded on May 18, 2023. The property has 5,040 square feet of built space.
The seller bought the property on August 19, 2021, for $3.1 million. The signatory for Avery Hall Investments was Brian Ezra. The signatory for Brodsky Organization was Daniel Brodsky.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 514 Union Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Brodsky Organization had purchased any other properties and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $104.3 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Avery Hall Investments purchased three properties in two transactions for a total of $8.5 million and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $10.4 million over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 179 feet and is 190 feet deep with a total lot size of 36,155 square feet. The lot is irregular. 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 the property in 2022 is $1.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $1,250 in ECB penalties and $3,175 in OATH penalties in the last year.

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 1.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $416.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 16th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gowanus is the 6th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 50 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were two pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

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 Avery Hall Investments owned at least four commercial properties with 122 residential units in New York City with 243,385 square feet and a city-determined market value of $60 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $255.8 million in debt, borrowed from QuadReal Property Group and Square Mile Capital Management. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 98 percent of the 243,385 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 2 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Brodsky Organization owned at least 39 commercial properties with 5,920 residential units in New York City with 5,618,976 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.2 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $591.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as AXA Equitable, Bank of New York Mellon, and Athene Annuity And Life Company respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 97 percent of the 5,618,976 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 3 percent of the space. The bulk, or 79 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 21 percent of the space.

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