Naftoli Jacobowitz signs $5M new construction loan with S3 Capital for 10-unit project in Greenpoint

Naftoli Jacobowitz through the entity 257 Driggs Ave LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender S3 Capital through the entity S3 RE Funding II LLC valued at $5 million for the development at 70 Eckford Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Isaac Rosenberg in December 2021 filed plans to convert the existing retail building into a 10-unit, 14,779-square-foot mixed-use building under the address 257 Driggs Avenue.

The loan deal closed on December 30, 2022 and was recorded on January 13, 2023. The property has 6,401 square feet of built space and 6,401 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 12,802 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $781 and the price per buildable square foot is $390 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 owner bought the property on November 16, 2021, for $4.4 million. The signatory for Naftoli Jacobowitz was Naftoli Jacobowitz. The signatory for S3 Capital was Joshua Crane. Jason Herzkowitz is an attorney with the law firm Breuer Herzkowitz, nominee for the actual but unidentified bridge lender which assigned the prior debt to S3 Capital.

Prior sales and revenue

The 6,401-square-foot property generated revenue of $267,231 or $42 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 70 Eckford Street parcel has frontage of 148 feet and is 27 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,401 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1 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 Greenpoint, the bulk, or 30 percent of the 22.7 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Greenpoint has 2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $704.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 7th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Greenpoint has 3.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Brooklyn. It had 3.4 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.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 11 commercial properties representing 63,426 square feet of the 63,426 square feet. The largest owner is Watermark Capital Group, followed by Steven Gizzie and then Socrates Nicholas.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 79 percent of the 63,426 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 10 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Naftoli Jacobowitz owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 6,401 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single retail property. It is located in Brooklyn.

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