ESRT signs contract to buy two Williamsburg retail properties

Empire State Realty Trust through the entity ESRT 86-90 North 6th Street, L.L.C. signed a contract as the buyer with Jacob Lerman and Morris Lerman through the entity ABA Realty Management LLC for the 11-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 169 Wythe Avenue and the adjacent retail building (K2) at 88 North 6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The expected use is cash flowing.
The memorandum of contract was signed on September 16, 2024 and was recorded on February 6, 2025. The two properties have 31,633 square feet of built space and 1,667 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The memorandum does not indicate the sale price or closing date.

The signatory for Jacob Lerman and Morris Lerman was Jacob Lerman and Morris Lerman. The signatory for Empire State Realty Trust was Thomas P. Durels. The contract date was September 16, 2024.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 169 Wythe Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Empire State Realty Trust purchased 11 properties in eight transactions for a total of $221.4 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Jacob Lerman had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. Out of the two properties, one with a total of 31,633 square feet of built space generated revenue of $858,174 per year.

The property

The residential walkup building with 11 residential units in Williamsburg has 31,633 square feet of built space and 1,667 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,083 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-2/R6A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received one housing litigation 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 block

On the tax block of 169 Wythe Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 16 commercial properties representing 76,643 square feet of the 153,337 square feet. The largest owner is Empire State Realty Trust, followed by L3 Capital and then Frank Mancini.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 28 percent of the 153,337 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Empire State Realty Trust owned at least 23 commercial properties with 732 residential units in New York City with 7,182,913 square feet and a city-determined market value of $2.2 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $180 million in debt, borrowed from Morgan Stanley. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 88 percent of the 7,182,913 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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