Nursing home investor pays $15.7M to Eric Markel for 95-unit rental in Bensonhurst

Nursing home owner Uri Koenig through the entity 6801 19 Ave L.P. paid $15.7 million to Eric Markel through the entity Wynfame West Realty LLC for 95-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 6801 19th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on July 19, 2022 and was recorded on July 29, 2022. The property has 89,772 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $174 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 Eric Markel was Eric Markel. The signatory for Uri Koenig was Uri Koenig. A nursing home database indicates Uri Koenig is associated with 17 nursing homes, mostly in upstate New York.  The think tank Empire Center wrote about nursing home operators including Uri Koenig and partner Efraim Steif, in early July 2022. The report said that overall in the industry, “In New York City… nursing homes renting their facilities from related companies paid an average of 50 percent… more per patient-day… than those renting from unrelated landlords..”  The Syracuse Post-Standard wrote an article referencing Uri Koenig as an accountant in the nursing home industry.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Uri Koenig had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Eric Markel had not purchased any other properties and sold 163 properties in five transactions for a total of $67.7 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Sheik Saddick, head officer and Eric Markel, officer. The business entity is Wynfame Realty Llc. The 89,772-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.6 million or $17 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 6801 19th Avenue parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 20,000 square feet. The zoning is R5 which allows for up to 1.25 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5 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 received 29 housing violations, $150 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 14 commercial properties representing 10,674 square feet of the 153,434 square feet. The largest owner is Francesco Coluccio, followed by Xi He Lin and then Vincent Vasta. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 59 percent of the 153,434 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link