Bruklyn Builders pays $7.8M to Yuk Jin Lam for dev site in Gowanus

David Halberstam’s Bruklyn Builders through the entity 282 4th Ave Owner LLC paid $7.8 million to Yuk Jin Lam through the entity Lt 284 Gowanus LLC for the development building (V1) at 280-284 4th Avenue in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, B00751849, for a 33-unit, 26,138 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by Francis Leung with plans filed June 8, 2022 and permitted June 14, 2022.
The deal closed on December 31, 2024 and was recorded on January 15, 2025. The property has 5,880 square feet of built space and 23,556 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 23,556 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,335 and the price per buildable square foot is $333 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 seller bought the property on April 30, 2019, for $5 million. The signatory for Yuk Jin Lam was Yuk Jin Lam. The signatory for Bruklyn Builders was David Halberstam. The contract date was August 22, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Bruklyn Builders purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $2.8 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Yuk Jin Lam had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 5,880-square-foot property generated revenue of $105,201 or $18 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The development building in Gowanus has 5,880 square feet of built space and 23,556 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 23,556 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 40 feet and is 97 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,913 square feet. The zoning is C4-4D which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $623,000.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $9 million money judgment concerning a contract filed on August 30, 2023, by CW Realty Group and Cheskie Weisz against Yuk Jin Lam. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation, $15,000 in ECB penalties, and $15,000 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 2.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $649.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 6th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gowanus has 2.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 31 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 10 commercial properties representing 44,925 square feet of the 56,997 square feet. The largest owner is Avery Hall Investments, followed by CW Realty Group and then Anna Belobrovka.
On the tax block, there were four new building construction projects totaling 187,196 square feet. The largest is a 128-unit, 104,140 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Avery Hall and filed by Alexander Cutrona with plans filed December 14, 2021 and permitted June 10, 2022. The second largest is a 66-unit, 49,165 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Joseph Vogel with plans filed November 15, 2021 and permitted May 26, 2022.

The majority, or 95 percent of the 56,997 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 5 percent of the space.

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