Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties pays $5.2M for mixed-use retail in Brighton Beach

Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties through the entity 614-616 Bright Beach LLC paid $5.2 million to Seth Rubinstein and Ira Rubinstein through the entity SIR Realty Corp. for the two-unit mixed-use building (S2) at 614 Brighton Beach Avenue in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and the adjacent two-unit mixed-use building (S2) at 616 Brighton Beach Avenue. The expected use is cash flowing.

Wharton Properties controls two buildings on the other side of the street a block to the west at 517-519 Brighton Beach Avenue through a 30-year net lease expiring in 2038.
The deal closed on April 28, 2026 and was recorded on May 5, 2026. The two properties have 8,398 square feet of built space and 198 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 8,434 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $619 and the price per buildable square foot is $616 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 Seth Rubinstein and Ira Rubinstein was Seth Rubinstein and Ira Rubinstein. The signatory for Wharton Properties was Jeff Sutton . The contract date was December 24, 2025.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 614 Brighton Beach Avenue.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Wharton Properties purchased three properties in three transactions for a total of $46.8 million and sold nine properties in nine transactions for a total of $369.7 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Seth Rubinstein had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Milton Rubinstein, individual owner and Seth Rubinstein, lessee. The business entity is Topps Shoes.

The property

The mixed-use building with 2 residential units in Brighton Beach has 8,398 square feet of built space and 198 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 8,434 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 18 feet and is 90 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,664 square feet. 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 $1.6 million.

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 $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Brighton Beach, The majority, or 56 percent of the 8.1 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 12 percent of the space. In sales, Brighton Beach has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $133.5 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Brighton Beach has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 229,618 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 614 Brighton Beach Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the 16 commercial properties representing 86,100 square feet of the 403,304 square feet. The identified owner is David Adelsberg.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 89 percent of the 403,304 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Wharton Properties owned at least 98 commercial properties with 216 residential units in New York City with 3,501,459 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $3.3 billion. The portfolio has $525.4 million in debt, with top three lenders as Acore Capital, Rialto Management Group, and Valley National Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 60 percent of the 3,501,459 square feet of built space are office properties, with retail properties next occupying 19 percent of the space. The bulk, or 86 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 9 percent of the space.

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