Joel Schwartz signs $8M refi with Citibank for 10-unit rental in Williamsburg

Joel Schwartz through the entity 302 Graham Avenue L.P. as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Citibank through the entity Citi Real Estate Funding Inc. valued at $8 million for the 10-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 302 Graham Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on June 5, 2024 and was recorded on June 10, 2024. The prior lender was Tideway Capital Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $4.8 million.
The property has 7,931 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $1,008 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 owner bought the property on January 29, 2019, for $2.7 million. The signatory for Joel Schwartz was Joel Schwartz. The signatory for Citibank was Ana Rosu Marmann.

The property

The residential elevator building with 10 residential units in Williamsburg has 7,931 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,499 square feet. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $357,396.

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 four DOB violations and $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on October 13, 2023. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the six commercial properties representing 32,623 square feet of the 54,361 square feet. The largest owner is Zofia Stec, followed by Penn South Capital and then Paul Scarola.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 50 percent of the 54,361 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joel Schwartz owned at least 90 commercial properties with 1,084 residential units in New York City with 1,047,095 square feet and a city-determined market value of $178.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.2 billion in debt, with top three lenders as BridgeCity Capital, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 1,047,095 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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