Gotham Organization in contract to pay up to $33.7M for Greenpoint air rights
The Greenpoint Monitor Museum seeks to sell for $100 per square foot, up to approximately 337,000 square feet of air rights to the Picket family’s Gotham Organization and its development partner RiseBoro Community Partnership as part of a large new development called Monitor Point that will have approximately 1,000 rental units, new MTA facilities and a new Greenpoint Monitor Museum.
The contract between the seller Greenpoint Monitor Museum and Gotham Organization was disclosed in a court filing required as part of the sale of a significant asset owned by a nonprofit or religious organization. Case LINK
The sale is the transfer of excess development rights the museum owns on its parcel with the address 56 Quay Street and the 40 Quay Street, where Gotham Organization will build the residential development.
The land will be undergoing a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which will ultimately determine how big the development can be. The MTA disclosed in 2021 that it had picked Gotham Organization as the developer for its parcel, with 900 units planned. The current website for the project says it will have 1,000 rental units.
The museum owns 56 Quay Street and Gotham Organization will control 40 Quay Street through a 99-year ground lease with the fee owner, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The purchase and sale agreement says no brokers were involved.
According to the petition, “The Contract provides for a sale price for the Property’s unused development rights of $100 per square foot, subject to the following minimum purchase prices: no less than $10,000,000 (100,000 square feet) if the rezoning is approved at lower than an R8 district, and no less than $22,000,000 (220,000 square feet) if the rezoning is approved at an R8 District or higher.2 The maximum amount of floor area available for transfer (not including the 30,000 square feet of floor area to be retained by the Museum for the construction of the Permanent Museum) is estimated to be 337,401.60 square feet assuming an R8 rezoning, which would yield a purchase price of $33,740,160. The actual amount of development rights to be sold, subject to the foregoing minimums, will depend upon how much floor area Gotham is able to utilize in its development based on the land use approvals that are ultimately obtained.”
The property
The industrial building in Greenpoint has 72,600 square feet of built space and 123,344 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 195,899 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 602 feet and is 159 feet deep with a total lot size of 80,617 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7 million.
Prior sales and revenue
The 72,600-square-foot property generated revenue of $1 million or $14 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
Development
Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.
Violations and lawsuits
According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.
There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.
The neighborhood
In Greenpoint, The bulk, or 29 percent of the 23.7 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Greenpoint has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $596.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Greenpoint has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.
The surrounding
Within a 400-foot radius of 94 Quay Street, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those three items, two were in new building development. There were two new building permit applications. The most recent of these two items was a filing on June 16, 2022 for a 92,391-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 130 residential units at 79 Quay Street. One of those three items was a loan which Harry Einhorn borrowed $51.5 million from Popular Bank secured by the 23,500-square-foot, four-unit industrial (E1) on 79 Quay Street on December 8, 2023.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.