Developer Joel Schwartz pays $2.1M for 49-unit dev site in Cypress Hills

Developer Joel Schwartz through the entity 3051 Atlantic Bx LLC paid $2.1 million to the estate of Freida Vita Lo Bello for the corner development site at 3051 Atlantic Avenue in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 49-unit, 34,153 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Barry Wagschal and filed by Barry Wagschal with plans filed May 13, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.
The purchase closed on March 31, 2023 and was recorded on April 11, 2023. The property has 5,720 square feet of built space and 23,237 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 28,962 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $367 and the price per buildable square foot is $72 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 contract date was March 31, 2022. Skybrook Capital provided a loan for the total purchase price, or $2.1 million simultaneously with the purchase.

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 68 commercial properties with 1,052,321 square feet, 925 residential units and a city-determined market value of None. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $742.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Citibank, BridgeCity Capital, and Starwood Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 63 percent of the 1,052,321 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Prior sales and revenue

The 5,720-square-foot property generated revenue of $138,147 or $24 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The parcel has two buildings with frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,811 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $677,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Cypress Hills, The bulk, or 24 percent of the 8.6 million square feet of commercial built space are mixed-use buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Cypress Hills has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $101.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Cypress Hills has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 17th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 12 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 41,057 square feet. The largest is a 49-unit, 34,153 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Barry Wagschal and filed by Barry Wagschal with plans filed May 13, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a six-unit, 4,469 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Ofer Bruhim with plans filed March 16, 2018 and permitted August 27, 2020.

The majority, or 57 percent of the 23,340 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

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