NineDot Energy pays $6.95M for commercial in Marine Park, second city purchase

NineDot Energy, a community distributed energy developer, through the entity Trillium Vesper Landco LLC paid $3.8 million to Lighting Palace for three commercial buildings at 2138 Flatbush Avenue, 2148 Flatbush Avenue and 2142 Flatbush Avenue in Marine Park, Brooklyn, in three separate transactions. This was the alternative power company NineDot Energy’s second purchase in New York City.
Lender SolaREIT financed the acquisition with a $7.1 million loan.

In the first of the new transactions, NineDot Energy through the entity Trillium Vesper Landco LLC paid $3.8 million to Lighting Palace through the entity Ecj New York Realty, LLC for the retail building (K1) at 2138 Flatbush Avenue in Marine Park, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on February 27, 2024 and was recorded on March 20, 2024. The property has 5,100 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $735 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.)

In the second, NineDot Energy through the entity Trillium Vesper Landco LLC paid $1.6 million to Lighting Palace through the entity Joelco Realty LLC for the retail building (K1) at 2148 Flatbush Avenue in Marine Park, Brooklyn. The deal closed on February 27, 2024 and was recorded on March 20, 2024. The property has 4,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $400 per the PincusCo analysis.

In the third, NineDot Energy through the entity Trillium Vesper Landco LLC paid $1.6 million to Lighting Palace through the entity Light Projections Inc. for the office building (O1) at 2152 Flatbush Avenue in Marine Park, Brooklyn. The deal closed on February 27, 2024 and was recorded on March 20, 2024. The property has 4,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $400 per the PincusCo analysis.

The signatory for Lighting Palace was attorney Jack Aini. The signatory for NineDot Energy was Adam Cohen. The contract date was January 11, 2023. The Chehova family owns Lighting Palace.

According to the application for tax breaks to the New York City Industrial Development Agency, “Vesper Sparrow Clean Energy, LLC (“Applicant”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of NineDot Energy, LLC (“NineDot”), a community distributed energy developer. Applicant is seeking tax benefits in connection with the construction of battery energy storage systems (“BESS”) that will have an estimated capacity of 9.6MW along with two solar canopies each of 20 kW capacity (the “Project”). The Project will be located within Lot 44 and 49 within Block 7889 in the Borough of Brooklyn, known by the address of 2138-2148 Flatbush Avenue (the “Project Site”). The Project Site is currently under contract by Applicant to purchase, with a due diligence period lasting until March 2024 during which Applicant will study the financial feasibility of the Project. Pursuant to the purchase agreement, Applicant has sole discretion to terminate the contract in full during or at the conclusion of the due diligence period, or elect to proceed to purchase the Project Site. The Project is a “front-of-the-meter” storage solution, meaning it will be interconnected with the electrical grid following capital improvements funded by Applicant and made in collaboration with Consolidated Edison, Inc. (“ConEd”). Following completion, the Project will provide greater grid resiliency, lower utility costs, and a reduced reliance on high-emission, high-cost “peaker” plants during summer hours when grid demand exceeds available capacity. The BESS will comprise approximately 2,690 square feet (sf), while the two solar canopies to be located on the roof of the switchgear structure will comprise approximately 1,280 sf. The per-day energy capacity will be 38.4 MWh for the BESS and 200 kWh for the two solar canopies.”

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer NineDot Energy purchased one property in one transactions for a total of $5.2 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Lighting Palace had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The retail building in Marine Park has 5,100 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,999 square feet. The zoning is R3-2 which allows for up to 0.5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $762,000.

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.

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 Marine Park, The bulk, or 26 percent of the 2.1 million square feet of commercial built space are mixed-use buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Marine Park has the 44th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Brooklyn with $34.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Marine Park has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had -1,296 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents -0.06 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 47 percent of the 49,020 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 32 percent of the space.

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