David Kramer pays $12.2M to Joel Schwartz for 21-unit development in Williamsburg

David Kramer through the entity DK Kings 4 LLC paid $12.2 million to Joel Schwartz through the entity Withers Apartments LLC for development building (V1) at 1-7 Withers Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on December 28, 2022 and was recorded on January 6, 2023.
The seller bought the property on March 2, 2021, for $2.8 million. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. The signatory for David Kramer was David Kramer.

Yisroel Greenfeld, on September 14, was given a permit for construction of a 21-unit, 15,931-square-foot residential building at 5 Withers Street in Williamsburg. Joel Schwartz was listed as the owner of the property. The pair have worked together on several developments in the past, such as their 66-unit, 63,644-square-foot mixed-use building at 1884 Broadway in Ocean Hill.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer David Kramer purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $29.8 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Joel Schwartz purchased 15 properties in 11 transactions for a total of $67.5 million and sold 25 properties in 22 transactions for a total of $220.9 million over the same time period.

The property

The 1-7 Withers Street parcel has frontage of 23 feet and is 92 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,149 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 $268,000.The most recent loan totaled $14.2 million and was provided by BridgeCity Capital on November 21, 2022.

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 $23,125 in ECB penalties and $5,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

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 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 10th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.3 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 was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the eight commercial properties representing 394,089 square feet of the 394,089 square feet. The largest owner is TF Cornerstone, followed by John Lego and then Joel Schwartz.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 273,856 square feet. The largest is a 78-unit, 257,925-square-foot R-2 building developed by Menachem Stark with plans filed February 16, 2006 and permitted June 23, 2008. The second largest is a 23-unit, 15,931-square-foot R-2 building developed by Yisroel Greenfeld with plans filed June 8, 2020 and permitted September 14, 2021.

the majority, or 99 percent of the 394,089 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 1 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 73 commercial properties in New York City with 863,774 square feet and a city-determined market value of $130.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $711.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Citibank, BridgeCity Capital, and Starwood Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 51 percent of the 863,774 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 20 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that David Kramer owned at least two commercial properties in New York City.

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