Naftali Group files for 218-unit building in Williamsburg

Michael Naftali’s Naftali Group submitted a new building construction project for a 218-unit, 297,521 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 1 Division Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Michael Witek of Naftali Group filed the plan with the New York City Department of Buildings on January 8, 2024 under job number B00975270. It calls for the construction of a 21-story building. The project is described in the filing as: to erect a new multi-story multi-family mixed use building. The architect of record is COOKFOX Architects.

The property

The development building in Williamsburg has 70,665 square feet of built space and 288,555 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 288,555 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 36 feet and is 358 feet deep with a total lot size of 57,711 square feet. The lot is irregular. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.3 million. The most recent loan totaled $46.7 million and was provided by Israel Discount Bank on January 12, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold by the Rosenbergs of Certified Lumber for $51.2 million to the Naftali Group on May 27, 2020.

The 70,665-square-foot property generated revenue of $821,428 or $12 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

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 5th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 8th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.5 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 seven of the nine commercial properties representing 779,082 square feet of the 779,082 square feet. The largest owner is City Of New York, followed by Naftali Group and then Spitzer Enterprises. On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 1,768,121 square feet. The largest is a 605-unit, 602,188 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Spitzer Enterprises and filed by Eliot Spitzer with plans filed December 17, 2014 and permitted July 21, 2016. The second largest is a 182-unit, 380,375 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Naftali Group and filed by Michael Witek with plans filed January 5, 2021 and permitted February 28, 2023.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Naftali Group owned at least 12 commercial properties with 371 residential units in New York City with 859,112 square feet and a city-determined market value of $171 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $961 million in debt, with top three lenders as HSBC Bank, Bank Hapoalim, and Bank OZK respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 65 percent of the 859,112 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with development properties next occupying 27 percent of the space. The bulk, or 68 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 32 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 1 Division Avenue, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. One of those three items was a sale which Yechiel Newhouse bought a commercial condo unit in the 171,432-square-foot, 141-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 450 Kent Avenue for $16 million from L+M Development Partners and BFC Partners on January 26, 2023. Of those three items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $95 million. The most recent of the two was Yechiel Newhouse in which borrowed $12 million from Signature Bank secured by one condo unit in the 171,432-square-foot, 141-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 450 Kent Avenue on January 26, 2023.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.