Moses Karpen pays $2.5M for dev site in Williamsburg, gets $8.95M construction loan

Moses Karpen through the entity Gerry Gardens LLC paid $2.5 million to Henry Grunfeld through the entity Ggh Holdings LLC for the industrial building (G7) at 91 Gerry Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At the same time, Karpen obtained an $8.95 million construction loan from Parke Bank.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a five-unit, 17,248 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Moses Karpen and filed by Moses Karpen with plans filed December 1, 2021 and permitted April 15, 2022.

The deal closed on February 7, 2024 and was recorded on February 28, 2024. The property has zero square feet of built space and 19,996 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,996 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $125 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 Henry Grunfeld was Henry Grunfeld. The signatory for Moses Karpen was Moses Karpen. The contract date was February 7, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Moses Karpen purchased six properties in two transactions for a total of $13.2 million and sold three properties in three transactions for a total of $9.2 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Henry Grunfeld had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,999 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $191,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 50.4 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 4th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.3 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 10th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.3 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.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 16 commercial properties representing 17,450 square feet of the 143,467 square feet. The largest owner is Larry Baum, followed by Henry Grunfeld and then Harold Tischler.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 88,309 square feet. The largest is a eight-unit, 37,184 square-foot assembly (A-3) building submitted by Joel Braver with plans filed January 19, 2017 and permitted February 16, 2021. The second largest is a five-unit, 17,248 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Moses Karpen and filed by Moses Karpen with plans filed December 1, 2021 and permitted April 15, 2022.

The majority, or 78 percent of the 143,467 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 12 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Henry Grunfeld owned at least one commercial property with six residential units in New York City with 8,595 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single walkup property. It is located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Moses Karpen owned at least 29 commercial properties with 280 residential units in New York City with 212,127 square feet and a city-determined market value of $43 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $61.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Valley National Bank, Arbor Realty Trust, and Bank of Princeton respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 53 percent of the 212,127 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 33 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 2 percent of the space.

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