Joel Schwartz signs $22.3M refi loan with Jovia for new building in Greenpoint
Joel Schwartz through the entity 411-417 Meeker LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Jovia Federal Credit Union through the entity Jovia Commercial Lending LLC valued at $22.3 million for the new building at 411-417 Meeker Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on November 29, 2022 and was recorded on December 2, 2022. The prior lender was BridgeCity Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $23 million.
The owner bought the property on June 26, 2019, for $7.5 million. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. The signatory for Jovia Financial Federal Credit Union was James G. Marsh.
Prior sales and revenue
The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes David Blum, head officer and Joel Schwartz, head officer. The business entity is Meeker Flats Llc.
The property
The 411-417 Meeker Avenue parcel has frontage of 88 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,779 square feet. The lot is irregular. 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 $983,000.The most recent loan totaled $23 million and was provided by BridgeCity Capital on January 11, 2022.
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 $11,150 in ECB penalties and $11,150 in OATH penalties in the last year.
The neighborhood
In Greenpoint, the bulk, or 29 percent of the 23.4 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Greenpoint has 2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $700.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 7th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Greenpoint has 3.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Brooklyn. It had 3.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 14 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 13 commercial properties representing 25,655 square feet of the 46,190 square feet. The largest owner is Chaskel Babad, followed by Alfonso Santorelli and then Joel Lefkowitz.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 40,285 square feet. The largest is a 46-unit, 31,371-square-foot R-2 building developed by Solomon Feder with plans filed August 24, 2017 and permitted February 8, 2021. The second largest is a 13-unit, 8,914-square-foot R-2 building developed by Joel Berkowitz with plans filed June 11, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.
The majority, or 38 percent of the 46,190 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.
The borrower
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 75 commercial properties in New York City with 852,364 square feet and a city-determined market value of $130.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $723.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as BridgeCity Capital, Citibank, and Starwood Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 852,364 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.
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