Joel Schwartz signs $13.3M refi for newly built 16-unit building in Williamsburg

Joel Schwartz through the entity 55 Borinquen Place LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Starwood Mortgage Capital through the entity Starwood Mortgage Capital LLC valued at $13.3 million for the 16-unit new construction property at 45-55 Borinquen Place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

There is a new building project for a 16-unit, residential (R-2) building submitted by Yisroel Greenfeld with plans filed March 16, 2022 and permitted September 21, 2022.

The loan closed on February 22, 2024 and was recorded on February 28, 2024. The prior lender was BridgeCity Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $8.9 million.
The property has 17,650 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.
The owner bought the property on August 24, 2022, for $4 million. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. The signatory for Starwood Mortgage Capital was Grace Y. Chiang.

The property

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 $990,000. The most recent loan totaled $8.9 million and was provided by BridgeCity Capital on August 24, 2022.

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 in the last year.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 15 commercial properties representing 106,043 square feet of the 132,068 square feet. The largest owner is Sholem Kestenbaum, followed by Kraus Organization and then Joel Schwartz.

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 borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 85 commercial properties with 1,084 residential units in New York City with 1,043,035 square feet and a city-determined market value of $177.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.1 billion in debt, with top three lenders as BridgeCity Capital, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 58 percent of the 1,043,035 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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