Charles Cara pays $22M to Rachel Foster for two industrial properties in Columbia Waterfront

Charles Cara through the entity Dumbo Views LLC paid $22 million to Rachel Foster and others through the entity 1129 Van Brunt LLC for the industrial building (E1) at 42 President Street in Columbia Waterfront, Brooklyn and the industrial building (E1) at 129 Van Brunt Street in Columbia Waterfront, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on June 15, 2022 and was recorded on July 7, 2022. The two properties have 24,933 square feet of built space for a total buildable of 24,933 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $882 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 Rachel Foster was Rachel Foster and others. The signatory for Charles Cara was Charles Cara. Charles Cara owns Cara Construction.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 42 President Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has no record that the buyer Charles Cara had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Rachel Foster had not purchased any other properties and sold three properties in two transactions for a total of $20.7 million over the same time period. The two properties with a total of 24,933 square feet of built space generated revenue of $509,677 per year or $20 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $882.

The property

The 42 President Street parcel has frontage of 83 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 17,433 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.5 million.The most recent loan totaled $16 million and was provided by Customers Bank on December 22, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Columbia Waterfront, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 926,114 square feet of commercial built space are mixed-use buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space. In sales, Columbia Waterfront has the 39th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Brooklyn with $49.4 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Columbia Waterfront has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 32,758 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 42 President Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the nine commercial properties representing 24,933 square feet of the 39,693 square feet. The two identified owners are Heights Advisors and Legacy Partners. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 72 percent of the 39,693 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Charles Cara owned at least three commercial properties with 47,586 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 80 percent of the 47,586 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 20 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Surrounding

PincusCo has not identified any commercial real estate items of interest within a 400-foot radius of 42 President Street that occurred over the past 24 months.

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