North Hill Capital, Arena Investors sell large corner dev site in Carroll Gardens for $5M

An entity affiliated with Vitaly Litvin and Vladimir Slobodyansky, 232 Smith LLC, paid $5 million to North Hill Capital Management and Arena Investors through the entity Smith Street Reo, LLC for the corner development parcel (V1) at 232 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on August 31, 2023 and was recorded on September 6, 2023. The property has zero square feet of built space and 9,998 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 9,998 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $505 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 seller acquired the property on March 16, 2023, with a transfer valuation of $2.6 million. The signatory for North Hill Capital Management and Arena Investors was Alfonso Kimche. The signatory for Vitaly Litvin and Vladimir Slobodyansky was the attorney Yevgeny Tsyngauz. The contract date was July 25, 2023. North Hill Capital Management took the asset back from the former borrower, Louis Greco Jr. The seller was in care of Arena Investors, an investor in distressed real estate and other asset types.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Vitaly Litvin had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller North Hill Capital Management purchased one properties in one transactions for a total of $2.6 million 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 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 $557,000.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in zero lawsuits and one bankruptcy over the past two years. The bankruptcy was filed on September 7, 2022, by Elliott Hefler citing assets of $25.8 million. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $1,250 in ECB penalties and $1,850 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 10,000 square-foot M building. The project was submitted by Louis Greco with plans filed July 1, 2015 and permitted June 26, 2018.

The neighborhood

In Carroll Gardens, The bulk, or 44 percent of the 3.6 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 33 percent of the space. In sales, Carroll Gardens has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $365.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 22nd highest in Brooklyn. For development, Carroll Gardens has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 136,511 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the eight commercial properties representing zero square feet of the 31,572 square feet. The identified owner is North Hill Capital Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 10,000 square feet. It is a 10,000 square-foot mercantile (M) building submitted by Louis Greco with plans filed July 1, 2015 and permitted June 26, 2018.

The majority, or 56 percent of the 31,572 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.

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