Eckstrom NYC pays $6.5M to Catholic Church for specialty in Gowanus

Eckstrom NYC through the entity 415 Degraw LLC paid $6.5 million to Saint Paul and Saint Agnes Roman Catholic Church through the entity Saint Paul And Saint Agnes Roman Catholic Church for the midblock church building at 417 Degraw Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on March 10, 2022 and was recorded on April 5, 2022.

The property has 15,750 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $412 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 Saint Paul and Saint Agnes Roman Catholic Church was Rev. Paul Anel. The signatory for Eckstrom NYC was Carlos Saavedra.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Eckstrom NYC purchased four properties in four transactions for a total of $17 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Saint Paul and Saint Agnes Roman Catholic Church had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The 417 Degraw Street parcel has frontage of 66 feet and is 85 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,280 square feet. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.7 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Gowanus, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 11.5 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Gowanus has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $205.4 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Gowanus is the 10th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 35 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the 10 commercial properties representing 4,800 square feet of the 106,959 square feet. The identified owner is Jonathan Schippers. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 43 percent of the 211,154 square feet of built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Eckstrom NYC owned at least four commercial properties with 22,465 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 54 percent of the 22,465 square feet of built space are residential walkup properties, with 1-4 family properties next occupying 46 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 417 Degraw Street, PincusCo identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those two items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit application filed on May 25, 2021 for a 265,460-square-foot F-2 building at 157 Douglass Street.
Of those two items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on January 12, 2022 for the $348,875 renovation of 7,526-square-foot F-2 building with one residential units at 455 Degraw Street.

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