Iconic Wythe Diner in contract to sell, has approved plans for 10-unit building

An anonymous buyer through the entity OVV LLC and registered at the law firm Reiss Sheppe, signed a contract in August to buy the 1950s-era Wythe Diner at 225 Wythe Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that was home to the Wythe Diner for two decades, then Relish, then Cafe de la Esquina, then Blank Street Coffee and most recently a Chanel perfume popup. The seller is Sandy Stillman through the entity Blue Sky Diner Inc. The expected use is ground up development. Stillman filed plans in 2014 for a 10-unit mixed-use building, and the plans were approved in 2018, but are not yet permitted. The plans remain active and in April 2024 the expediter was updated.
The memorandum of contract was signed on September 26, 2024 and was recorded on October 25, 2024. The property has 2,786 square feet of built space and 15,866 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 18,666 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.
The signatory for Sandy Stillman was Sandy Stillman. The signatory for the buyer was Doran Golubtchik of Reiss Sheppe.

Blank Street closed this location in 2023.

Stillman bought the building in November 1997 for $110,000, and obtained a seven-year purchase money mortgage of $125,000 from the sellers, Alex and Katherine Wrubel, that gave him two years before he needed to pay interest or principal.

The Wythe Diner was open from 1968 to 1988, and then Stillman opened Relish, which was closed by 2010. In 2014, Stillman filed new building plans for the 10-unit project, as Brownstoner reported at the time. After Relish came Cafe de la Esquina, then Blank Street Cafe and then Chanel rented it about a year ago for an experiential perfume display.

The buyer entity is registered at 365 Flushing Avenue, Suite 711. There was no sale price disclosed. Stillman borrowed $3.25 million from Maspeth Federal Savings and Loan Association in June 2017.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller Sandy Stillman had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the past two years.

The property

The mixed-use building in Williamsburg has 2,786 square feet of built space and 15,866 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 18,666 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 61 feet and is 116 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,222 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 $595,000.

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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, 320621975, for a 10-unit, 16,673 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Sandy Stillman with plans filed December 22, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet.

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 $1.8 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg has 4.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Brooklyn. It had 4.7 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.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 12 commercial properties representing 14,808 square feet of the 63,546 square feet. The two identified owners are David Kubresi and Gregory A. Kieser.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 16,673 square feet. The largest is a 10-unit, 16,673 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Sandy Stillman with plans filed December 22, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a two-unit residential (R-3) building submitted by Gregory Kieser with plans filed August 10, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 35 percent of the 63,546 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

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