City pays $14.2M to Horizon Group for school dev site in Bensonhurst

The New York City School Construction Authority paid $14.2 million to Horizon Group through the entity 7120 New Utrecht LLC for the mixed-use building (K7) at 7120 New Utrecht Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, 1-4 family building (A1) at 1553 72nd Street in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and industrial building (G7) at 7108 New Utrecht Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on June 30, 2025 and was recorded on July 21, 2025. The three properties have 11,363 square feet of built space and 67,751 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 79,072 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,254 and the price per buildable square foot is $180 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 Horizon Group was David Marom . The signatory for NYC School Construction Authority was Tina Isselbacher. The contract date was July 22, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer NYC School Construction Authority purchased 11 properties in six transactions for a total of $160.8 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Horizon Group purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $6.5 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period. Out of the three properties, one with a total of 11,363 square feet of built space generated revenue of $416,730 per year.

The property

The zoning is C4-4L which allows for up to nan times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 4 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.4 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $200 in OATH penalties 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 Bensonhurst, The bulk, or 34 percent of the 16.5 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Bensonhurst has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $286.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 24th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Bensonhurst has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 388,036 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 7120 New Utrecht Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the five commercial properties representing 51,806 square feet of the 58,522 square feet. The largest owner is Nyc Department Of Education, followed by Horizon Group and then Duan Yang.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 67,742 square feet. It is a 67,742 square-foot educational (E) building submitted by George Roussy with plans filed December 3, 2018 and permitted December 12, 2019.

The majority, or 64 percent of the 58,522 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Horizon Group owned at least 10 commercial properties with 114 residential units in New York City with 151,706 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $198.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank Leumi, Valley National Bank, and Bank Hapoalim respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 54 percent of the 151,706 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with hotel properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. The bulk, or 75 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 25 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Nyc School Construction Authority owned at least 26 commercial properties in New York City with 379,268 square feet and a city-determined market value of $74.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 34 percent of the 379,268 square feet of built space are office properties, with specialty properties next occupying 30 percent of the space. The bulk, or 71 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 21 percent of the space.

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