Pasquale DeBenedictis signs $62.1M refi with Berkadia for Crown Heights nursing home

Pasquale DeBenedictis through the entity Prospect Acquisition I, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Berkadia Commercial Mortgage valued at $62.1 million for the nursing home building (I6) at 520 Prospect Place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
The owner bought the property on June 25, 2018, for $64 million. The signatory for Pasquale DeBenedictis was Pasquale DeBenedictis. The signatory for Berkadia Commercial Mortgage was Erin K. Witte. The building is occupied by the Downtown Brooklyn Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. According to Nursing Home Report, DeBenedictis is a 27% owner of the nursing home operator.
The deal closed on May 1, 2023 and was recorded on July 3, 2023. The prior lender was Bank of America which held debt that had an original loan amount of $61.4 million.

The property has 118,230 square feet of built space and 7,099 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 125,292 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $525 and the price per buildable square foot is $495 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 property

The specialty building in Crown Heights has 118,230 square feet of built space and 7,099 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 125,292 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 262 feet and is 312 feet deep with a total lot size of 41,764 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $34.5 million.

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 received five DOB violations and $6,400 in OATH penalties 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 Crown Heights, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 46.5 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space. In sales, Crown Heights has 1.6 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $553.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 13th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Crown Heights has 2.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Brooklyn. It had 3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 14 of the 24 commercial properties representing 192,011 square feet of the 387,106 square feet. The largest owner is Yoel Goldman, followed by Workforce Housing Group and then Sandy King.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 34,318 square feet. It is a 44-unit, 34,318 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Thomas Hameline with plans filed May 26, 2022 and permitted May 19, 2023.

The majority, or 44 percent of the 387,106 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 37 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Pasquale DeBenedictis owned at least eight commercial properties with three residential units in New York City with 124,090 square feet and a city-determined market value of $21.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 79 percent of the 124,090 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with industrial properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. The bulk, or 96 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 4 percent of the space.

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