Double U Realty pays $14.1M to church for 3-parcel dev site in Williamsburg

Double U Realty through the entity 100 S 9 LLC paid $14.1 million to Roman Catholic Church of the Epiphany for the development site composed of the specialty building (M1) at 100 South 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, specialty building (M3) at 96 South 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and development building (V0) at 98 South 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on July 25, 2022 and was recorded on August 1, 2022.

The three properties have 14,625 square feet of built space and 27,900 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 42,525 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $964 and the price per buildable square foot is $331 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 signatories for the Roman Catholic Church of the Epiphany were Jason N. Espinal and Paul Michels. The signatory for Double U Realty was Jay Weitzman. PincusCo reported in May 2022 that this sale was in contract with Michael Weitzman as the signatory.  A listing by Steven Rutman of JLL says the property can support a new residential development up to 42,525 square feet.

To finance the purchase, Double U Realty through the entity 100 S 9 LLC as borrower signed an acquisition loan with lender Hirshmark Capital through the entity South Ninth Funding LLC valued at $9.7 million for three properties.
The signatory for Double U Realty was Jay Weitzman. The signatory for Hirshmark Capital was Mark Levin. Bert R. Dweck of Hirshmark arranged the financing. Hirshmark borrowed funds from the Boston-based Northeast Bank, according to a collateral assignment of the note.

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 100 South 9th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer Double U Realty purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $20 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.

The property

The 100 South 9th Street parcel has frontage of 75 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,500 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $997,000.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in one court filing and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The court filing was a $14.1 million petition concerning a leave to sell filed on April 27, 2022, by the Roman Catholic Church of the Epiphany with Michael Weitzman and Double U Realty as the contract vendees. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $50 in OATH penalties 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 neighborhood

In Williamsburg, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 50 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 8th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.6 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 9th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 30,290 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Double U Realty owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 109,250 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $73.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Gim Commercial Mortgage Loan Fund, United Nations Federal Credit Union, and G4 Capital Partners respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 60 percent of the 109,250 square feet of built space are rental condo properties, with elevator properties next occupying 38 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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