Morris Bawabeh signs $17.6M refi for retail in Brownsville

Morris Bawabeh through the entity Midyan Gate Realty LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Israel Discount Bank valued at $17.6 million for four retail properties including the retail building (K1) at 190 East 98th Street, the retail building (K1) at 90 East 98th Street, and the retail building (K1) at 144 East 98th Street in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on September 6, 2024 and was recorded on September 18, 2024. The prior lender was Series 2014-GC26 which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20 million.The four properties have 74,000 square feet of built space and 73,763 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 147,812 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $237 and the price per buildable square foot is $118 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 Morris Bawabeh was Morris Bawabeh. The signatory for Israel Discount Bank was Avi Lieberman and Ryan Shay.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $830 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Brownsville, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 28.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Brownsville has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $198.2 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Brownsville has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 14th 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 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 190 East 98th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 10 commercial properties representing 245,482 square feet of the 269,482 square feet. The largest owner is David Bawabeh, followed by Joseph Popack and then Morris Bawabeh.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 47 percent of the 269,482 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Morris Bawabeh owned at least 12 commercial properties in New York City with 378,246 square feet and a city-determined market value of $56.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $36.1 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 378,246 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with retail properties next occupying 22 percent of the space. The bulk, or 67 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 33 percent of the space.

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