Jacob Schwimmer signs $63M construction loan for 159-unit project in Boerum Hill

Jacob Schwimmer through the entity 540 Atlantic Realty LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Valley National Bank valued at $63 million for the 159-unit ground up construction project at 540 Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 159-unit, 113,429-square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Sam Teitelbaum with plans filed May 17, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The plans are currently under plan examiner review.
The loan closed on November 29, 2023 and was recorded on December 6, 2023. The prior lender was Davis Companies which held debt that had an original loan amount of $21.6 million.
The property has a total buildable potential of 113,424 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per buildable square foot is $555 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 Jacob Schwimmer was Jacob Schwimmer. The signatory for Valley National Bank was Jeffrey Puchin.

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, $12,500 in ECB penalties, and $13,500 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Boerum Hill, The bulk, or 32 percent of the 9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space. In sales, Boerum Hill has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $382.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 20th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Boerum Hill has 1.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 10th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 20 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 17 commercial properties representing 172,050 square feet of the 227,328 square feet. The largest owner is Sterling Town Equities, followed by Muhammad Abbas and then Mark Schildkraut.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 284,102 square feet. The largest is a 62-unit, 80,138 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Adam America Real Estate and filed by Josh Zucker with plans filed May 15, 2017 and permitted June 26, 2018. The second largest is a 43-unit, 67,572 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Sterling Town Equities and filed by Paul Amit with plans filed June 19, 2019 and permitted January 22, 2021.

The majority, or 34 percent of the 227,328 square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 32 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jacob Schwimmer owned at least 17 commercial properties with 898 residential units in New York City with 854,868 square feet and a city-determined market value of $139.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $323.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Valley National Bank, Spruce Capital, and Bank Leumi respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 45 percent of the 854,868 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 42 percent of the space. The bulk, or 66 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 34 percent of the space.

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