Cheskel Schwimmer of Chess Builders pays $6.7M for likely dev site in Williamsburg

Active developer Cheskel Schwimmer of Chess Builders, through the entity 291 Wallabout Realty LLC paid $6.7 million to Zoltan Rosenwasser through the entity Sayla LLC for the industrial building (F5) at 291 Wallabout Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on March 21, 2024 and was recorded on March 22, 2024. The property has 5,000 square feet of built space and 14,997 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,996 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,340 and the price per buildable square foot is $335 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 Zoltan Rosenwasser was Zoltan Rosenwasser. The signatory for Cheskel Schwimmer was Cheskel Schwimmer. The contract date was March 21, 2024.

The property

The industrial building in Williamsburg has 5,000 square feet of built space and 14,997 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,996 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,999 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $441,000.

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 not received any significant violations 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 Williamsburg, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 50.4 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsburg has the 4th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg has 4.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Brooklyn. It had 4.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 19 commercial properties representing 70,289 square feet of the 119,289 square feet. The largest owner is Meir Stern, followed by Martin Jacobowitz and then Joel Mittlelman.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 73,108 square feet. The largest is a five-unit, 21,733 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Lazar Waldman with plans filed October 28, 2020 and permitted January 27, 2022. The second largest is a six-unit, 17,226 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Joel Freidman with plans filed February 13, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 43 percent of the 119,289 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 42 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cheskel Schwimmer owned at least 19 commercial properties with 726 residential units in New York City with 736,714 square feet and a city-determined market value of $43.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $416 million in debt, with top three lenders as Valley National Bank, Prime Group Holdings, and IceCap Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 58 percent of the 736,714 square feet of built space are D6 properties, with elevator properties next occupying 26 percent of the space. The bulk, or 58 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 42 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link