Empire Equities pays $8M for mixed-use in Williamsburg

Dovi Leshes’s Empire Equities through the entity 216 Grand EQ LLC paid $8 million to the family of the late artist Frank Fristachi through the entity Grand Art Gallery LLC for the three-unit mixed-use building (S3) at 216 Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on February 20, 2024 and was recorded on February 29, 2024. The property has 10,916 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $732 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 the Fritachi familyh was Noah Matalon. The signatory for Empire Equities was Dovi Leshes. The contract date in the document was entered incorrectly as December 14, 2024. It was unclear if the intended date was December 14, 2023 or February 14, 2024. Empire Equities declined to comment.

The sellers are members of the family of late artist Frank Fristachi and Suzannah Matalon Fristachi. They were quoted in this 2013 Crain’s article about a city proposal to increase taxes on vacant parcels, which are adjacent to the building but not included in this sale. The Commercial Observer reported the parcel was for sale in a February 2023 article, with Colliers International listing it, and asking $20 million. The purchase was financed with a $7 million purchase money mortgage.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Empire Equities purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $6.4 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Noah Matalon had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Suzannah Matalon Fristachi, head officer and Noah Matalon, site manager. The business entity is Grand Street Gallery, Llc.

The property

The mixed-use building with 3 residential units in Williamsburg has 10,916 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 40 feet and is 83 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,605 square feet. The lot is irregular. 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 $2 million.

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 received five DOB 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 $2.3 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 10th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.3 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. There were two pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 27 commercial properties representing 24,400 square feet of the 103,118 square feet. The largest owner is Mordechai Jacobowitz, followed by Graph Group and then George Newshan.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 55 percent of the 103,118 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 45 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Empire Equities owned at least two commercial properties with 20 residential units in New York City with 11,397 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 65 percent of the 11,397 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 35 percent of the space. The bulk, or 65 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 35 percent of the space.

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