LTNG pays $3M for industrial in Williamsburg

LTNG through the entity Largo 76n8 LLC paid $3 million to Neptune Research Project, LLC for industrial building (E1) at 76 North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Urban Standard Capital provided a $6.3 million construction and land loan at the same time.
The deal closed on October 6, 2022 and was recorded on October 14, 2022. The property has 2,500 square feet of built space and 2,500 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 5,000 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,200 and the price per buildable square foot is $600 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.)
Largo Investments bought the property on March 10, 2015, for $10.5 million. LTNG is led by former Largo executives. It’s unclear why the value of the property was so much lower than in 2015. The signatory for Neptune Research Project, LLC was Jessica Janoski. The signatory for LTNG was Oded Ben-Nun.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer LTNG purchased one properties in one transactions for a total of $3 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 2,500-square-foot property generated revenue of $39,540 or $16 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 76 North 8th Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,500 square feet. The zoning is M1-2/R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 2 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $173,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $33,230 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a three-unit, 20,412 square-foot R-2 building. The project was developed by Asaf Ben-Nun of LTNG with plans filed May 6, 2020 and permitted October 14, 2021.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 50 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsburg has the 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.9 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 8th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 17 commercial properties representing 98,948 square feet of the 158,852 square feet. The largest owner is Yihai Group, followed by Southside United H.D.F.C. and then Canvas Property Group.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 30,277 square feet. The largest is a three-unit, 20,412-square-foot R-2 building developed by Asaf Ben-Nun with plans filed May 6, 2020 and permitted October 14, 2021. The second largest is a five-unit, 4,983-square-foot R-2 building developed by William Lika with plans filed May 1, 2017 and permitted June 1, 2018.

The majority, or 52 percent of the 158,852 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that LTNG owned at least 11 commercial properties in New York City with 44,977 square feet and a city-determined market value of $12.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 44,977 square feet of built space are retail properties, with office properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 91 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 9 percent of the space.

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