Joel Schwartz signs $17M construction loan with Popular Bank for 50-unit project in Williamsburg

Joel Schwartz through the entity Berry North LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Popular Bank through the entity Popular Bank valued at $17 million for the industrial building (E1) at 228 Berry Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
There is a new building project for a 50-unit, 35,329 square-foot residential (R-2) building developed by Hershy Silberstein with plans filed October 28, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on December 22, 2022 and was recorded on January 12, 2023. The prior lender was S3 Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $11 million.
The owner bought the property on November 15, 2021, for $13.8 million. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. The signatory for Popular Bank was Sana Khaliq.

The property

The 228 Berry Street parcel has frontage of 61 feet and is 81 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,058 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 $263,000.

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 received $7,300 in ECB penalties and $2,400 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there was a prior new building construction project for a 40-unit, 34,975 square-foot R-2 building developed by Yitzchok Hager with plans filed August 29, 2018 and it was never permitted.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 49.7 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 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 10th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 24 commercial properties representing 42,981 square feet of the 100,970 square feet. The largest owner is Shaindy Schwartz, followed by Joel Schwartz and then Jeremy Armstrong.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 164,688 square feet. The largest is a 38-unit, 48,615-square-foot R-2 building developed by Joseph Mcmillan with plans filed November 2, 2018 and permitted April 19, 2022.

The majority, or 41 percent of the 97,897 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 40 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 73 commercial properties in New York City with 863,774 square feet and a city-determined market value of $130.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $711.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Citibank, BridgeCity Capital, and Starwood Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 51 percent of the 863,774 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 20 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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