Joel Schwartz pays $4M to Moses Guttman for dev site with 16-unit plans in Williamsburg

Joel Schwartz through the entity 55 Borinquen Place LLC paid $4 million to Moses Guttman through the entity Williamsburg Triangle LLC for the development site (V0) at 45 Borinquen Place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

There is a new building project for a 16-unit, 17,634-square-foot residential (R-2) building developed by Yisroel Greenfeld with plans filed March 16, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.
The sale closed on August 24, 2022 and was recorded on August 30, 2022. The property has zero square feet of built space and 9,097 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 9,097 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price the price per buildable square foot is $439 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 Moses Guttman was Moses Guttman. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Joel Schwartz purchased 16 properties in 12 transactions for a total of $66.7 million and sold seven properties in five transactions for a total of $36.9 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Moses Guttman purchased seven properties in three transactions for a total of $9.9 million.

The property

The 45 Borinquen Place parcel has frontage of 124 feet and is 74 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,744 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 $861,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 20,417 square feet. The largest is a new building project for a 16-unit, 17,634-square-foot residential (R-2) building developed by Yisroel Greenfeld with plans filed March 16, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a new building project for a three-unit, 2,783-square-foot R-2 building developed by Moses Guttman with plans filed May 14, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 50 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 8th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.8 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 9th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 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 eight of the 18 commercial properties representing 106,043 square feet of the 147,323 square feet. The largest owner is Sholem Kestenbaum, followed by Meir D. Tabak and then Dax Capital.
There are five active new building construction projects totaling 28,154 square feet. The largest is a 16-unit, 17,634-square-foot R-2 building developed by Yisroel Greenfeld with plans filed March 16, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a three-unit, 2,783-square-foot R-2 building developed by Moses Guttman with plans filed May 14, 2014 and permitted November 14, 2017.

The majority, or 42 percent of the 132,068 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 41 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Moses Guttman owned at least 16 commercial properties in New York City with 74,392 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 45 percent of the 74,392 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 90 commercial properties in New York City with 966,865 square feet and a city-determined market value of $154.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $758.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Citibank, Starwood Capital Group, and BridgeCity Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 966,865 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 2 percent of the space.

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