Jenel Real Estate signs $12.8M refi for mixed-use in Bushwick
Jenel Real Estate through the entity 399 Knickerbocker LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender BankUnited valued at $12.8 million for the mixed-use building (K4) at 399 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on March 18, 2025 and was recorded on March 20, 2025. The prior lender was Blackstone Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $14 million.The property has 42,500 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $301 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 Jenel Real Estate was David Dushey . The signatory for BankUnited was Anthony McCoy .
Prior sales and revenue
The 42,500-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.8 million or $42 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
The property
The mixed-use building in Bushwick has 42,500 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 125 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,500 square feet. The zoning is C4-3 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.7 million.
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 $1,730 in OATH penalties in the last year.
Development
For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on December 8, 2016. 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 Bushwick, The bulk, or 44 percent of the 33.6 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Bushwick has 2.1 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $584.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Bushwick has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 921,267 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. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 25 of the 45 commercial properties representing 119,050 square feet of the 249,950 square feet. The largest owner is Wharton Properties, followed by Deodat Lowtan and then Tzvi Moskowitz.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.
The majority, or 75 percent of the 249,950 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space.
The borrower
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jenel Real Estate owned at least two commercial properties with 348 residential units in New York City with 262,522 square feet and a city-determined market value of $131 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $90 million in debt, borrowed from Goldman Sachs. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 77 percent of the 262,522 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with retail properties next occupying 23 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
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