Brooklyn Sephardic school pays $8.8M to EmblemHealth for building in Sheepshead Bay, 4th buy since 2021

Yeshivat Darche Eres, a private school with a focus on Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community, paid $8.8 million to EmblemHealth through the entity Health Insurance Plan Of Greater New York for the specialty building (I5) at 3245 Nostrand Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The expected use is owner-occupied. This is the fourth property the school has purchased since 2021.
The deal closed on May 29, 2025 and was recorded on May 30, 2025. The property has 36,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $243 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 EmblemHealth was Michael Palmateer . The signatory for Yeshivat Darche Eres was Michael Jemal . The contract date was June 28, 2024. Michael Jemal is president of the board of Yeshivat Darche Eres and CEO of the legacy brand manager Equity Brands.
Yeshivat Darche Eres is a private Jewish educational organization with early education, girls elementary, boys elementary, girls high school and boys high school.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Yeshivat Darche Eres purchased three properties in three transaction for a total of $26.5 million and has no record it sold any properties since 2021.

• Felice Devito sold 324 Avenue Y, Gravesend, Brooklyn for $8 million to Yeshivat Darche Eres on August 26, 2024.

• Maheshchand M. Ratanji sold 2316 Coney Island Avenue, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn for $11.3 million to Yeshivat Darche Eres on January 05, 2022.

• Wasa Properties sold 2505-2521 Coney Island Avenue, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn for $7.2 million to Yeshivat Darche Eres on July 07, 2021.

The seller EmblemHealth had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties in the past two years.

The property

The specialty building in Sheepshead Bay has 36,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 250 feet and is 123 feet deep with a total lot size of 28,300 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R4 which allows for up to 0.75 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7.1 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Sheepshead Bay, The bulk, or 43 percent of the 26.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Sheepshead Bay has 1.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $411.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 16th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Sheepshead Bay has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 730,035 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 two of the eight commercial properties representing 179,068 square feet of the 221,108 square feet. The two identified owners are Cammeby’S International Group and Gladys L. Pemberton Revocable Trust Agreement Of Attn: Gladys L Pemberton Trustee.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 81 percent of the 221,108 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Yeshivat Darche Eres owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 42,334 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 64 percent of the 42,334 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with P9 properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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