Joel Berkowitz plans 62-unit building in Bed-Stuy

Developer Joel Berkowitz filed a private application for a zoning map amendment to facilitate the development of a new 62-unit mixed-use building with 41,929 square feet of residential and 7,919 square of commercial at 712 Myrtle Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
The developer seeks the zoning change because the project would not be possible under the existing M1-2 zoning regulations, which do not permit residential use. Berkowitz filed the project under number 2022K0109 and one document with the project’s details is available here.

The project is slated for three tax lots, 706 Myrtle Avenue,  712 Myrtle Avenue and 714 Myrtle Avenue, with an overall width of 80 feet and a depth of 111 feet. The architect is Jay Architect & Engineering.

Development

Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $350 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Bedford Stuyvesant, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 54.7 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Bedford Stuyvesant has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $846.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 4th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Bedford Stuyvesant has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Brooklyn. It had 3.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 13 commercial properties representing 71,842 square feet of the 203,917 square feet. The two identified owners are All Year Management and Naftoly B. Weber. On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 41,215 square feet. The largest is a 38,308 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Joel Weiss and filed by Joel Weiss with plans filed May 12, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 2,907 square-foot educational (E) building submitted by Yanki Silberman with plans filed November 22, 2016 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Naftoly Weber, head officer and Alan Dyckman, officer. The business entity is 712 Myrtle Llc.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 712 Myrtle Avenue, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those five items, two were for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. They were one permit applications with a total initial cost of $501,920 and one permit with a total initial cost of $300,000. The most recent of these two items was the filing on January 20, 2022 for a 19,933-square-foot business (B) building with zero residential units at 178 Walworth Street. Of those five items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $24.3 million. The most recent of the two was Isamer Margareten which bought the 5,000-square-foot, one-unit industrial (E1) on 111 Spencer Street and one other property for $7.3 million from Elias Verschleisser, Joseph A. Schubin, Shimon Shain, and Esther Shain on July 12, 2022. One of those five items was a loan which Rivington Company borrowed $62.5 million from Post Road Group, American Life & Security, and GT Partners secured by the development site (V1) on 733 Myrtle Avenue and five other properties on January 5, 2023.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.