Mark Koplowitz pays $3.9M to Witnick for 7-unit walkup in Prospect Heights

Mark Koplowitz through the entity 567 Vanderbilt Property LLC paid $3.9 million to Witnick Real Estate Partners through the entity 567 Vanderbilt Ave LLC for the seven-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 567 Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on June 21, 2022 and was recorded on July 11, 2022. The property has 4,864 square feet of built space and 1,941 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 6,812 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $791 and the price per buildable square foot is $565 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 seller bought the property on January 8, 2014, for $2.6 million.

Prior sales and revenue

The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includesRamiel Ben Yehuda, head officer and Isaac Abraham, officer. The business entity is 567 Vanderbilt Ave Llc.

The property

The 567 Vanderbilt Avenue parcel has frontage of 24 feet and is 70 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,703 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Prospect Heights Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.3 million.

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 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 Prospect Heights, the bulk, or 46 percent of the 9.4 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Prospect Heights has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $86 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Prospect Heights has 1.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 13th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 15 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other residential walkup buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 15 commercial properties representing 92,768 square feet of the 154,312 square feet. The largest owner is Galil Management, followed by Deborah Rennie and then G-Way Management. There are five active new building construction projects totaling 126,453 square feet. The largest is a four-unit, 3,960-square-foot R-2 building developed by John Colwell with plans filed March 12, 2013 and permitted March 28, 2014. The second largest is a one-unit, 3,861-square-foot R-3 building developed by John Colwell with plans filed March 12, 2013 and permitted September 3, 2013.

The majority, or 37 percent of the 214,145 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 567 Vanderbilt Avenue, Pincusco identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those three items, two were in new building development. There were two new building permit applications. The most recent of these two items was a filing on January 24, 2022 for a 299,095-square-foot R-2 building with 93 residential units at 851 Pacific Street.
One of those three items was a loan which Galil Management borrowed $36 million from Arbor Realty Trust secured by the 78,762-square-foot, 115-unit rental (D6) on PACIFIC Street on March 15, 2021.

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