Lender Bankwell takes back 16-unit Williamsburg project through $9.7M bankruptcy sale

Lender Bankwell Bank through the entity Bankwell Properties, Inc. acquired through a $9.7 million bankruptcy sale, the 16-unit residential elevator building project (D7) at 80 Ainslie Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The former owner was Juda Klein who owned it through the entity Williamsburg Boutique LLC.
The deal closed on November 18, 2024 and was recorded on November 27, 2024. The property has 18,905 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $512 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 Juda Klein was Juda Klein. The signatory for Bankwell Bank was Konstantin Grinberg. The contract date was October 21, 2024. PincusCo reported on the $15.7 million bankruptcy case 23-22587 when it was filed.  The developer who planned to convert a two-story commercial building at 80-82 Ainslie Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to a five-story mixed-use property with 16 residential units, filed for bankruptcy protection in Manhattan in 2023, claiming the property was worth $15.7 million but had liabilities of $18.2 million. The project had been plagued with construction problems that pre-dated Covid, according to court filings. Bankwell Bank provided a $10.7 million loan in 2017.

Greg Corbin’s Northgate Real Estate Group was the bankruptcy sale broker, and marketed the property for the sale.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Bankwell Bank had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Juda Klein had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The residential elevator building with 16 residential units in Williamsburg has 18,905 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 59 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,908 square feet. 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 $3 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in zero lawsuits and one bankruptcy over the past two years. The bankruptcy was filed on August 7, 2023, by Juda Klein, Mendel Klein, and Simon Tyrnauer citing assets of $15.7 million. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received four DOB violations, $6,900 in ECB penalties, and $7,650 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active major alteration construction project, 321148619, for a 16-unit, 15,561 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Klein Juda with plans filed June 22, 2015 and permitted December 29, 2015.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the six commercial properties representing 106,369 square feet of the 136,647 square feet. The largest owner is GDC Properties, followed by Slate Property Group and then Joel Schwartz.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 7,403 square feet. It is a 10-unit, 7,403 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yochanan Tennenhaus with plans filed April 9, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 78 percent of the 136,647 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 12 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link