Joel Schwartz pays $12.9M for dev site in Williamsburg, gets $26.5M construction loan

Joel Schwartz through the entity North 11 Suites, LLC paid $12.9 million to Mark Berezowsky through the entity Ommy Associates, LLC for the development site (V3) at 209 North 11th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Schwartz already controlled the property through a 49-year ground lease signed in 2021.
Simultaneously with the acquisition, Popular Bank provided Schwartz a $26.5 million acquisition and construction loan.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 53-unit, 35,915 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Yisroel Greenfeld and filed by Yisroel Greenfeld with plans filed September 24, 2020 and permitted March 2, 2022.
The deal closed on June 12, 2023 and was recorded on June 20, 2023. The property has 10,000 square feet of built space and 29,997 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 29,997 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,286 and the price per buildable square foot is $429 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 Mark Berezowsky was Mark Berezowsky. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. In 2021, Omelan Mark Berezowsky as landlord signed a 49-year lease valued at $13.1 million with Joel Schwartz. This is now a sale of the property to Schwartz. The deed does not state the lease is terminated but it appears to be terminated, and the new construction loan does not refer to the loan as a leasehold. The memorandum of lease for the 49-year lease says, in part, “Tenant has the right to purchase the premises at any time under the lease, in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions.”

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Joel Schwartz purchased 16 properties in 13 transactions for a total of $57.5 million and sold 26 properties in 23 transactions for a total of $233.1 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Mark Berezowsky had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The development building in Williamsburg has 10,000 square feet of built space and 29,997 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 29,997 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,999 square feet. The zoning is M1-2/R6A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.9 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 one DOB violation, $7,400 in ECB penalties, and $8,950 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 50.4 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsburg has the 5th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 9th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 10 commercial properties representing 36,940 square feet of the 55,447 square feet. The largest owner is Shaindy Schwartz, followed by Nando Niola and then John Kaczmarek.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 35,915 square feet. It is a 53-unit, 35,915 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yisroel Greenfeld and filed by Yisroel Greenfeld with plans filed September 24, 2020 and permitted March 2, 2022.

The majority, or 79 percent of the 55,447 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 76 commercial properties with 938 residential units in New York City with 1,001,267 square feet and a city-determined market value of $171 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $846.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as BridgeCity Capital, Citibank, and Starwood Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 56 percent of the 1,001,267 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Direct link to Acris document. link