Bronstein Properties signs $9M refi loan with New York Community for 72-unit rental in Flatbush

Bronstein Properties through the entity Leejay Associates LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender New York Community Bank valued at $9 million for the midblock 72-unit residential elevator building at 399 East 17th Street in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on March 1, 2022 and was recorded on May 5, 2022. The prior lender was New York Community Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $9.7 million.The property has 84,000 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $107 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 signatory for Bronstein Properties was Barry Rudofsky. The signatory for New York Community Bank was Daniel M. Bagatta.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Scott Silverman, head officer and Barry Rudofsky, officer. The business entities are Bronstein Properties,Llc and Lee Jay Associates Llc. The 84,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.5 million or $18 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 399 East 17th Street parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 20,000 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 $5.6 million.

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 15 housing violations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

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 three of the six commercial properties representing 277,910 square feet of the 349,410 square feet. The largest owner is Susan Leist, followed by Bronstein Properties and then Parkoff Organization. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 89 percent of the 373,006 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bronstein Properties owned at least 90 commercial properties with 4,309,326 square feet and a city-determined market value of $488.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $315.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Signature Bank, Capital One, and New York Community Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 67 percent of the 4,309,326 square feet of built space are residential elevator properties, with residential walkup properties next occupying 33 percent of the space. The bulk, or 46 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 27 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 399 East 17th Street, Pincusco identified four commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
One of those four items was a sale which Susan Leist bought the 133,716-square-foot, 136-unit rental (D1) on 1710 Cortelyou Road for $10.5 million from Seth Leist on November 10, 2021.
Of those four items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $22.2 million. The most recent of the three was Pinnacle Group which borrowed $6.4 million from New York Community Bank secured by the 51,176-square-foot, 62-unit rental (D1) on 405 East 16th Street on September 23, 2021.

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