Bruce Ratner Family signs $10.1M refi with Cathay Bank for 20-unit rental in Williamsburg

The Bruce Ratner Family through the entity Olive Partners, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Cathay Bank through the entity Cathay Bank valued at $10.1 million for the 20-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 224 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on May 1, 2025 and was recorded on May 6, 2025. The prior lender was Blackstone Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $10.5 million.

The property has 18,142 square feet of built space and 756 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 18,900 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $556 and the price per buildable square foot is $534 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 owner bought the property on October 17, 2012, for $13.5 million. The signatory for Bruce Ratner Family was Aryeh Baraban . The signatory for Cathay Bank was Nicholas Nouvel .

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Bruce Ratner, head officer and Aryeh Baraban, officer. The business entities are Plaza Management USA and Olive Partners LLC. The 18,142-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.1 million or $61 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential elevator building with 20 residential units in Williamsburg has 18,142 square feet of built space and 756 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 18,900 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 210 feet and is 30 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,300 square feet. The zoning is M1-2/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 property has a 421A exemption that started in 2013 and expires in 2028. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.2 million. The property has 20 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

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 three housing violations and $150 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on August 27, 2012. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the four commercial properties representing 158,162 square feet of the 164,162 square feet. The largest owner is Isaac Jacobs, followed by Eugen Lefkovits and then Bruce Ratner.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 96 percent of the 164,162 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 4 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bruce Ratner Family owned at least 12 commercial properties with 232 residential units in New York City with 222,509 square feet and a city-determined market value of $60.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 81 percent of the 222,509 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. The bulk, or 97 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 3 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link