Double U Realty signs $20M refi for residential elevator in Williamsburg

Double U Realty through the entity 70 Havemeyer Gl LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender United Nations Federal Credit Union valued at $20 million for the 48-unit residential elevator building at 70 Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on March 11, 2022 and was recorded on April 27, 2022. The prior lender was Sterling Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $10.3 million.

The property has 42,000 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $476 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 Double U Realty was Michael Weitzman. The signatory for United Nations Federal Credit Union was Suzanne Castagna. Michael Weitzman is a principal of Double U Realty. 

The property

The 70 Havemeyer Street parcel has frontage of 60 feet and is 150 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,000 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.4 million.The most recent loan totaled $10.3 million and was provided by SBT Advantage Bank on October 17, 2019.

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 one DOB violation, $6,250 in ECB penalties, and $6,300 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 35 percent of the 65.1 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsburg has the 9th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 6th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other residential elevator buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 17 commercial properties representing 93,232 square feet of the 121,440 square feet. The largest owner is Michael Weitzman, followed by Lazzaro San Giovanni and then Oak Tree Residential. There is one active new building construction project totaling 9,683 square feet. It is a seven-unit, 9,683-square-foot R-2 building developed by Elizabeth Mcdonald with plans filed October 30, 2018 and permitted January 8, 2020.

The majority, or 37 percent of the 180,202 square feet of built space are residential walkup buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 70 Havemeyer Street, PincusCo identified four commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those four items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit issued on March 7, 2022 for a 97,915-square-foot R-2 building with 123 residential units at 402 Metropolitan Avenue.
One of those four items was a sale which Joseph Banda bought the 3,300-square-foot, one-unit retail building (K7) on 416 Metropolitan Avenue for $19 million from Joseph Mattone on September 10, 2020.
Of those four items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $89.3 million. The most recent of the two was Yoel Hershkowitch which borrowed $72.5 million from Bridge City Funding secured by the 3,300-square-foot, one-unit retail building (K7) on 416 Metropolitan Avenue on January 19, 2022.

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