Camber pays $9.5M for 63-unit dev site in East New York, gets $89.6M construction loan

Camber Property Group paid $9.5 million to the owners of the electrical supply company Legion Lighting for two parcels making up a 63-unit development site in East New York in two separate transactions. At the same time, Camber obtained an $89.6 million construction loan from Citibank.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 63-unit, 52,914 square-foot R-1 building. The project was submitted by Rick Gropper with plans filed July 29, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

In the first, Camber Property Group through the entity Glenmore Owner LLC paid $6.9 million to Legion Lighting through the entity Josh Realty Co., Inc. for the industrial building (F4) at 221 Glenmore Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on July 26, 2023 and was recorded on August 9, 2023. The property has 28,830 square feet of built space and 33,012 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 61,706 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $239 and the price per buildable square foot is $111 per the PincusCo analysis.

In the second, Camber Property Group through the entity Glenmore Owner LLC paid $2.6 million to Legion Lighting through the entity Me2 Realty Co., Inc. for the industrial building (F9) at 241 Glenmore Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on July 26, 2023 and was recorded on August 9, 2023. The property has 10,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $260 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 Legion Lighting was Michael Bellovin. The signatory for Camber Property Group was Rick Gropper. The contract date was July 26, 2023. The Bellovin family’s Legion Lighting is based in Hauppauge, Long Island and occupied the property prior to the sale. The company was founded in 1946.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Camber Property Group purchased 16 properties in nine transactions for a total of $264.3 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Legion Lighting had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The industrial building in East New York has 28,830 square feet of built space and 33,012 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 61,706 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 180 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 30,853 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-4 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.7 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 and $1,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 63-unit, 52,914 square-foot R-1 building. The project was submitted by Rick Gropper with plans filed July 29, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In East New York, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 44.5 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, East New York has 2.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $910.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 5th highest in Brooklyn. For development, East New York is the 5th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 52,914 square feet. It is a 63-unit, 52,914 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Rick Gropper with plans filed July 29, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 63,330 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Camber Property Group owned at least 70 commercial properties with 7,425 residential units in New York City with 7,142,914 square feet and a city-determined market value of $517.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.5 billion in debt, with top three lenders as New York City Housing Authority, NYC Housing Development Corporation, and Merchants Bank of Indiana respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 94 percent of the 7,142,914 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 2 percent of the space. The bulk, or 86 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 11 percent of the space.

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