Peak Capital pays $9M to Fred Gelfand for two residential walkup properties in Williamsburg

Peak Capital Advisors through the entity 251 North 8th Owner LLC paid $9 million to Fred Gelfand through the entity Gelfand LLC for eight-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 253 North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and eight-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 251 North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on August 15, 2022 and was recorded on August 23, 2022. The two properties have 13,000 square feet of built space and 2,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 15,000 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $692 and the price per buildable square foot is $600 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 Fred Gelfand was Fred Gelfand. The signatory for Peak Capital Advisors was David Gomez.

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 253 North 8th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer David Gomez purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $7.9 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Fred Gelfand had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $3 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Fred Gelfand, head officer and Matthew Gelfand, site manager. The business entity is Gelfand Llc.

The property

The 253 North 8th Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,500 square feet. The zoning is M1-2/R6A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3 times 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 properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have 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 block

On the tax block of 253 North 8th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 16 commercial properties representing 123,680 square feet of the 195,500 square feet. The largest owner is Isaac Schwartz, followed by Fred Gelfand and then Joel Schwartz.
There are three active new building construction projects totaling 20,866 square feet. The largest is a 13-unit, 8,910-square-foot R-2 building developed by Donna Morawiec with plans filed December 11, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.The second largest is a three-unit, 5,978-square-foot R-2 building developed by Thomas Finnican with plans filed March 18, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 38 percent of the 195,500 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Fred Gelfand owned at least six commercial properties in New York City with 28,375 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 85 percent of the 28,375 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 15 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that David Gomez owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 15,102 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $5.7 million in debt, borrowed from Webster Bank. Within the portfolio, all identified are walkup properties. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Correction: A prior version of this post identified the buyer as David Gomez. The buyer is Peak Capital Advisors and David Gomez is a principal of the firm.

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