Novelist Adam Fawer pays $3.5M for mixed-use in Park Slope

Novelist Adam Fawer through the entity Improbable Properties LLC paid $3.5 million to Pedro Rodriguez through the entity 348 Douglas Street LLC for four-unit mixed-use building at 151 4th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on April 14, 2022 and was recorded on May 16, 2022. The property has 4,615 square feet of built space and 4,669 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 9,276 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $769 and the price per buildable square foot is $382 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 Pedro Rodriguez was Pedro Rodriguez. The signatory for Adam Fawer was Adam Fawer. Adam Fawer has been involved with startups and is a novelist, according to a LinkedIn page.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has no record that the buyer Adam Fawer had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Pedro Rodriguez had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Gustavo Rodriguez, individual owner and Charles Rodriguez, site manager.

The property

The 151 4th Avenue parcel has frontage of 21 feet and is 71 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,541 square feet. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.7 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 Park Slope, the bulk, or 43 percent of the 26 million square feet of commercial built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, Park Slope has 1.3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $370.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Park Slope has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 22nd highest in Brooklyn. It had 784,980 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the nine commercial properties. The identified owner is 167-174 4th Avenue Llc. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 96,160 square feet. The largest is a 57-unit, 78,793-square-foot R-2 building developed by Gordon Gemma with plans filed January 7, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 18-unit, 17,367-square-foot R-2 building developed by Imran Tahir with plans filed November 25, 2013 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 72 percent of the 193,581 square feet of built space are 1-4 family buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 151 4th Avenue, Pincusco identified six commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those six items, two were in new building development. There were one new building permit application and one new building permit. The most recent of these two items was a filing on November 22, 2021 for a 114,431-square-foot R-2 building with 140 residential units at 164 4th Avenue.
One of those six items was a sale which ABJ Properties bought the 9,171-square-foot, eight-unit rental (C1) on 185 4th Avenue and 12 other properties for $14.8 million from Janine Hodgkins on May 21, 2021.
Of those six items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $51.1 million. The most recent of the three was Vanguard Real Estate Group which borrowed $8.8 million from Dime Community Bank secured by the 15,815-square-foot, 11-unit rental (D6) on 179 4th Avenue on June 30, 2021.

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