East Williamsburg arts building sells for $7M, adjacent sold for $8M in January

The entity 7 Knickerbocker LLC paid $7 million to the entity Worthless Bricks LLC for the industrial building (E1) at 7 Knickerbocker Avenue in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The building is home to the arts organization Worthless Studios. It was unclear what impact the sale would have on the organization. The buyer and seller did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The property is adjacent to 25 Knickerbocker Avenue, which the entity Cosmic Art Studio purchased in January 2024 for $8 million.
The deal closed on July 10, 2024 and was recorded on July 23, 2024. The property has 9,974 square feet of built space and 9,999 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,998 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $701 and the price per buildable square foot is $350 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 seller bought the property on April 22, 2021, for $5.3 million. The signatory for Neil Hamamoto was Neil Hamamoto. The contract date was May 28, 2024. The buyer entity is affiliated with artist Jennifer Lewin.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $6.1 million and has no record they sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The industrial building in East Williamsburg has 9,974 square feet of built space and 9,999 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,998 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 75 feet and is 104 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,999 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-2 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $884,000.

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.

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 East Williamsburg, The majority, or 62 percent of the 17.1 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space. In sales, East Williamsburg has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $265.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 24th highest in Brooklyn. For development, East Williamsburg has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 14th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.4 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 was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 17 commercial properties representing 52,594 square feet of the 262,736 square feet. The largest owner is Cosmic Art Studio, followed by Neil Hamamoto and then Prologis.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 72 percent of the 262,736 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with office buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Neil Hamamoto owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 9,974 square feet and a city-determined market value of $884,000. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single industrial property. It is located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jennifer Lewin owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 10,000 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single industrial property. It is located in Brooklyn.

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