John Catsimatidis, Red Apple Group pay $2.5M for two vacant lots in Coney Island

John Catsimatidis through his Red Apple Group entity Red Apple 3230 Surf Avenue, LLC paid $2.5 million to Mordechai Fleischer through the entity 3230 Surf Avenue LLC for the vacant lot at the Boardwalk and 33rd Street and the vacant lot (V0) at 3230 Surf Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on July 27, 2022 and was recorded on August 2, 2022. The two properties have zero square feet of built space and 10,042 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 10,042 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $248 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 Mordechai Fleischer was Mordechai Fleischer. The signatory for Red Apple Group was John Catsimatidis. These two parcels are 29.25 feet wide and run back to back from Surf Avenue to the boardwalk with a 30-foot street mapped between them, but the street does not exist at that point, and the entire area is vacant, according to a review on Google Streetview.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has no record that the buyer Red Apple Group had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Mordechai Fleischer had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The N/A Boardwalk parcel has frontage of 29 feet and is 145 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,241 square feet. The zoning is R5 which allows for up to 1.25 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $509,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $11,750 in ECB penalties and $11,750 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Coney Island, the majority, or 68 percent of the 14.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 10 percent of the space. In sales, Coney Island has the 40th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Brooklyn with $47.4 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Coney Island has 2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.1 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. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of N/A Boardwalk, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the 19 commercial properties representing 51,536 square feet of the 51,536 square feet. The identified owner is Lisa Vider. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

the majority, or 100 percent of the 51,536 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Red Apple Group owned at least 10 commercial properties in New York City with 1,092,541 square feet and a city-determined market value of $252.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $248.3 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank of America, M&T Bank, and HSBC Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 94 percent of the 1,092,541 square feet of built space are rental condo properties, with retail properties next occupying 6 percent of the space. The bulk, or 97 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 3 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link