Fannie Mae files $10.7M pre-foreclosure on 40-unit rental in Crown Heights

Fannie Mae, which holds a $10.75 million note given in January 2021 and secured by the 40-unit rental walkup at 245 Sullivan Place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, alleges the loan is in default and on April 17, 2024, filed a pre-foreclosure action in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
The members of the entity that owns the property, 245 Sullivan Ave LLC are Moses Neuman, Solomon Steinmetz, and Usher Steinmetz, according to the complaint.
The venture bought the building in February 2015 for $6.825 million, and initially filed plans in December 2015 to increase the size of the building from 40 units to 56 units under job number 321285818, but that was never completed.
Court filings represent the position of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.
Case 1:24-cv-02868-DLI-JAM LINK
Complaint 245 Sullivan Ave LLC pdf

The walkup building with 40 residential units in Crown Heights has 30,140 square feet of built space and 7,969 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 38,077 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 82 feet and is 135 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,069 square feet. The zoning is R7-1 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.1 million. The most recent loan totaled $10.7 million and was provided by Greystone & Co. on January 28, 2021.
The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Usher Shteinmetz, head officer and Rick Lewis, site manager. The business entity is 245 Sullivan Ave Llc.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 15 of the 19 commercial properties representing 263,412 square feet of the 335,130 square feet. The largest owner is Avner Skoczylas, followed by Curlene Louisa Campbell and then Elh Mgmt.. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Moses Neuman owned at least eight commercial properties with 132 residential units in New York City with 105,493 square feet and a city-determined market value of $12 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $10.7 million in debt, borrowed from Greystone & Co. and Hirshmark Capital. Within the portfolio, all identified are walkup properties. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 245 Sullivan Place, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a new building permit application filed on May 31, 2022 for a 17,433-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 25 residential units at 274 Sullivan Place.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.