HH Equities seeks rezoning in Red Hook to build mixed-use with 95 units

Developer Ariel Akkad of HH Equities submitted a uniform land use review procedure with the city’s Department of City Planning yesterday seeking a zoning change in order to facilitate the development of a new six-story plus cellar mixed-use commercial and residential building with 95 apartments at 46 Nelson Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Ariel Akkad also owns property through Slope Asset Management.

According to the application, 2024K0280, “the Proposed Development, an approximately 89,600- square foot (4.48 FAR) building would have a total of 95 dwelling units, 42 car parking spaces on in the cellar level, ground floor commercial uses and residential uses above. The proposed 95 dwelling units would include approximately 24 permanently affordable residential units pursuant to MIH [Mandatory Inclusionary Housing] Option 1. The Project Area is comprised of
Block 526, Lots 1, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22 and p/o 23, 29 and 31, and is located fully within the existing M1-1 zoning district. The Development Site consists of Block 526, Lot 1 only and has a lot area of 20,000 square feet.”

The application noted two recent city approvals, one in October 2024, for the 150 Mill Street Rezoning which changed an M1-1 zoning district to an M1-5 zoning district to facilitate the development of a new 10-story mixed-use development containing light manufacturing uses, offices, and community facility space, and in April 2024, for the 41 Richard Street Rezoning an M1-1 zoning district was changed to an M1-5 zoning district to facilitate the development of a new seven-story mixed-use development containing light manufacturing uses, offices, and commercial retail.

The property

The industrial building in Red Hook has 16,000 square feet of built space and 4,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 20,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 20,000 square feet. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.3 million.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold for $2.4 million on June 23, 2005.

The 16,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $226,605 or $14 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Development

Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Red Hook, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 11.8 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Red Hook has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $107 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 34th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Red Hook has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 16th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.1 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.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 18 commercial properties representing 10,100 square feet of the 91,133 square feet. The two identified owners are Antonios Filakouris and Robert Kaydanian. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 747 Hicks Street, PincusCo identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those two items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $10.5 million. The most recent of the two was RJ Capital Holdings in which borrowed $5.5 million from Pacific National Bank secured by the zero-square-foot, one-unit townhouse (A4) on 22 Huntington Street and three other properties on October 3, 2024.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.