LBA Realty pays $34M to Leser Group for three properties in Brooklyn

LBA Realty through the entity 110 Beard Street, LLC paid $34 million to the Leser Group through the entity Beard Street Acquisition LLC for industrial building (F5) at 236 Richards Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, industrial building (E9) at 118 Beard Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and property at Beard Street in Brooklyn.
The deal closed on August 9, 2022 and was recorded on September 6, 2022. The three properties have 92,700 square feet of built space and 49,500 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 142,000 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $366 and the price per buildable square foot is $239 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 Leser Group was Abraham Leser. The signatory for LBA Realty was Perry Schonfeld.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 236 Richards Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer LBA Realty had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Leser Group purchased one properties in one transactions for a total of $2.2 million and sold three properties in two transactions for a total of $195.8 million over the same time period. Out of the three properties, one with a total of 92,700 square feet of built space generated revenue of $1 million per year.

The property

The 236 Richards Street parcel has frontage of 330 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 58,500 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-2 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.5 million.The most recent loan totaled $13.9 million and was provided by Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders on May 6, 2021.

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 not received any significant violations 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 Red Hook, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 9 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Red Hook has 2.3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $770.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 5th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Red Hook has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 20th highest in Brooklyn. It had 991,089 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were two pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 236 Richards Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the eight commercial properties representing 125,180 square feet of the 135,980 square feet. The two identified owners are Leser Group and Phillip Hogue.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 68 percent of the 135,980 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Leser Group owned at least 34 commercial properties in New York City with 1,064,566 square feet and a city-determined market value of $114.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $535.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as UMB Bank, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders, and Axos Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 43 percent of the 1,064,566 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with specialty properties next occupying 32 percent of the space. The bulk, or 69 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 31 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that LBA Realty owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 9,910 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 76 percent of the 9,910 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with industrial properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. The bulk, or 76 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 24 percent of the space.

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