Corner Street Capital pays $18.7M to Joel Schwartz for two rentals in Williamsburg, part of $166M deal

Corner Street Capital pays $18.7 million to Joel Schwartz for residential elevator in Williamsburg, which is part of a $166 million deal.

In the first, Corner Street Capital through the entity 555 Grand LLC paid $9.6 million to Joel Schwartz through the entity 555 Grand Units LLC for 12-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 555 Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on October 7, 2022 and was recorded on October 18, 2022. The property has 8,988 square feet of built space and 1,111 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 10,100 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 $952 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 seller bought the property on July 23, 2013, for $1.9 million. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. The signatory for Corner Street Capital was Ross Banon. This is part of an anticipated $166 million deal, first reported by PincusCo.

In the second, Corner Street Capital through the entity 96 Bedford LLC paid $9.1 million to Joel Schwartz through the entity Bedford Flats LLC for eight-unit residential walkup building (C4) at 96 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on October 7, 2022 and was recorded on October 18, 2022.The property has 6,500 square feet of built space and 1,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 7,500 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,396 and the price per buildable square foot is $1,210 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 seller bought the property on September 28, 2016, for $5.7 million. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. The signatory for Corner Street Capital was Ross Banon. This is part of an anticipated $166 million deal, first reported by PincusCo. 

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer Corner Street Capital purchased 11 properties in 10 transactions for a total of $101.5 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Joel Schwartz purchased 18 properties in 14 transactions for a total of $75.9 million and sold 18 properties in 15 transactions for a total of $138.4 million over the same time period. The former owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is Charles Schwartz, head officer. The business entity is 555 Grand Units Llc.

The property

The 555 Grand Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,525 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 $1.8 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 received $100 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on January 3, 2020. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 32 commercial properties representing 35,753 square feet of the 150,637 square feet. The largest owner is Living New York, followed by Joel Schwartz and then Yehuda Zargarov.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 60 percent of the 149,570 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 81 commercial properties in New York City with 905,890 square feet and a city-determined market value of $142.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $716.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as BridgeCity Capital, Citibank, and Starwood Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 905,890 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 22 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 2 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Corner Street Capital owned at least 10 commercial properties in New York City with 67,575 square feet and a city-determined market value of $12 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $54 million in debt, borrowed from Customers Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 63 percent of the 67,575 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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