Double U Realty signs $24M construction loan with S3 for 45-unit project in Williamsburg

Double U Realty through the entity 100 S 9 LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender S3 Capital through the entity S3 Re 100 S9 Funding LLC valued at $24 million for the 45-unit project at the former church building at 100 South 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Michael Weitzman submitted a major alteration application for a reconstruction of the existing building at 100 South 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on January 24, 2023 under job number B00755164. It calls for the increase in size of the building from a three-story building with no dwelling units to a six-story building with 45 dwelling units.

The loan closed on March 6, 2024 and was recorded on March 21, 2024. The prior lender was Hirshmark Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $9.7 million.

The property has 11,250 square feet of built space and 19,125 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 30,375 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $2,133 and the price per buildable square foot is $790 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 owner bought the property on July 25, 2022, for $14.1 million. The signatory for Double U Realty was Michael Weitzman. The signatory for S3 Capital was Joshua Crane.

The property

The specialty building in Williamsburg has 11,250 square feet of built space and 19,125 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 30,375 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The 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 $1.1 million. The most recent loan totaled $9.7 million and was provided by Hirshmark Capital on July 25, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $14.1 million judgment concerning a leave to sell filed on April 27, 2022, by Roman Catholic Church of the Epiphany against Michael Weitzman and Double U Realty. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 50.4 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 4th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg has 4.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Brooklyn. It had 4.4 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 one of the two commercial properties representing zero square feet of the 30,290 square feet. The identified owner is Sucher Ashkenazi.
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 borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Double U Realty owned at least six commercial properties with 106 residential units in New York City with 115,885 square feet and a city-determined market value of $21.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $149.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Gim Commercial Mortgage Loan Fund, United Nations Federal Credit Union, and Colorado Federal Savings Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 115,885 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with elevator properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Direct link to Acris document. link