Joyland Group signs $88M refi with Citibank for new 136-unit rental in East Williamsburg

Joyland Group through the entity Upton Metropolitan LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Citibank through the entity Citi Real Estate Funding Inc. valued at $88 million for the 136-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 828 Metropolitan Avenue in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on April 2, 2025 and was recorded on April 8, 2025. The prior lender was Churchill Real Estate Holdings which held debt that had an original loan amount of $60 million.

The property has 147,728 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $595 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 Joyland Group was Joel Wertzberger . The signatory for Citibank was Anna Gutteridge .

Prior sales and revenue

The 147,728-square-foot property generated revenue of $8.7 million or $59 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential elevator building with 136 residential units in East Williamsburg has 147,728 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 245 feet and is 135 feet deep with a total lot size of 23,129 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $128,000. The most recent loan totaled $60 million and was provided by BridgeCity Capital on November 1, 2023 then assigned to Churchill Real Estate Holdings.

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 $6,250 in ECB penalties and $11,085 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 14 of the 30 commercial properties representing 65,670 square feet of the 131,097 square feet. The largest owner is Anthony Gurino, followed by Prospect Developers Ii and then Joel Schwartz.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 68,921 square feet. The largest is a 49-unit, 34,029 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Prospect Developers II and filed by Konstantin Gubareff with plans filed February 2, 2022 and permitted May 11, 2022. The second largest is a 27-unit, 19,910 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Moshe Abraham with plans filed February 18, 2016 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 62 percent of the 131,097 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joyland Group owned at least six commercial properties with 468 residential units in New York City. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $134.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as iCross Capital, Cross River Bank, and Maxim Capital Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 48 percent of the 138,897 square feet of built space are D6 properties, with O3 properties next occupying 47 percent of the space. The bulk, or 53 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 47 percent of the space.

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