Christina Topsoe pays $3M for mixed-use in Williamsburg, last sold in 1977

Christina Topsoe through the entity 291 Big Street LLC paid $3 million to Aldo Gargano through the entity 291 Grand Street Corp. for the two-unit mixed-use building (S2) at 291 Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on February 28, 2023 and was recorded on March 13, 2023. The property has 2,805 square feet of built space and 1,200 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 4,000 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,069 and the price per buildable square foot is $750 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 Aldo Gargano was Aldo Gargano. The signatory for Christina Topsoe was Christina Topsoe. The Gargano family acquired the building in 1977. Christina Teng Topsoe is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Topsøe Holding.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Christina Topsoe had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Aldo Gargano had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The 291 Grand Street parcel has frontage of 20 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,000 square feet. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.1 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 49.7 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 6th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 6th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. 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. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of nine of the 39 commercial properties representing 50,783 square feet of the 107,624 square feet. The largest owner is Teresa Garcia, followed by Shlomo Karpen and then Roberto Peguero.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 57 percent of the 85,154 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.

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