Jacob Zicherman signs $16.6M construction loan for dev site in Brownsville

Jacob Zicherman of Happy Living Development through the entity Livonia Ave Estates LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Popular Bank valued at $16.6 million for an eight parcel development site at 126 Livonia Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
On this site, there is a new building project, B00680413, calling for a 52-unit, 51,192 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Isaac Rosenberg and filed by Isaac Rosenberg with plans filed February 28, 2022 and permitted December 17, 2024.
The deal closed on December 27, 2024 and was recorded on February 7, 2025. The prior lender was Yellow Jacket Ventures which held debt that had an original loan amount of $2 million.The eight properties have zero square feet of built space and 38,918 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 38,918 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $N/A and the price per buildable square foot is $427 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 Zicherman was Jacob Zicherman. The signatory for Popular Bank was Candice Biscocho.

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 $1,250 in ECB penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there are eight active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 79,269 square feet. The largest, B00680413, is a new building project for a 52-unit, 51,192 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Isaac Rosenberg and filed by Isaac Rosenberg with plans filed February 28, 2022 and permitted December 17, 2024. The second largest, 321516150, is a new building project for a seven-unit, 4,515 square-foot R-2 building submitted by 126-144 Livonia Ave Llc with plans filed June 15, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Brownsville, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 28.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Brownsville has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $171.5 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Brownsville has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 12th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 126 Livonia Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 11 commercial properties representing zero square feet of the 9,758 square feet. The identified owner is Jacob Zicherman.
On the tax block, there were eight new building construction projects totaling 79,269 square feet. The largest is a 52-unit, 51,192 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Isaac Rosenberg and filed by Isaac Rosenberg with plans filed February 28, 2022 and permitted December 17, 2024. The second largest is a seven-unit, 4,515 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by 126-144 Livonia Ave Llc with plans filed June 15, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 61 percent of the 9,758 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 39 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jacob Zicherman owned at least 10 commercial properties with 18 residential units in New York City with 15,837 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 15,837 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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