Pinches Abowitz pays $10M for 79-unit dev site in Boerum Hill, borrows $36M

Pinches Abowitz through the entity 52 4th Ave Holdings LLC paid $10 million to Frank Rio and Martin Joseph through the entity RJ 4th Ave LLC for the 79-unit development site at 52 4th Avenue in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on July 29, 2025 and was recorded on August 11, 2025. The development project calls for 61,904 square feet of built space, according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per planned zoning square foot is $161 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 bought the property on December 3, 2015, for $3.5 million. The signatory for Frank Rio and Martin Joseph was Frank Rio. The signatory for Pinches Abowitz was Pinches Abowitz. The contract date was July 29, 2025.

Simultaneously with the purchase, Pinches Abowitz borrowed $36 million in a land loan and construction loan from S3 Capital.

This is a stalled development site, job number 340797141 and BIN number 3001453, that calls for a 12-story, 61,904-square-foot, 79-unit residential building. Frank J. Rio, an attorney, was identified as “sole owner” in a 2015 transaction. Yitzchak Joseph of Real Land Group submitted some development plans as owner. Martin Joseph, of Metropolitan Realty Exemptions, was also identified as an owner of the building in  DOB filings.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Pinches Abowitz purchased seven properties in four transactions for a total of $18.6 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Frank Rio had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The property with 53 residential units in Boerum Hill has 16,383 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 20 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,000 square feet. The zoning is C4-4D which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $200,000. The most recent loan totaled $23.5 million and was provided by Popular Bank on December 14, 2021.

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 $23,650 in ECB penalties and $7,400 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 20 of the 26 commercial properties representing 85,870 square feet of the 128,328 square feet. The largest owner is Bernard Dillenberger, followed by Avdoo & Partners Development and then Stuart Venner.
On the tax block, there were four new building construction projects totaling 197,791 square feet. The largest is a 104-unit, 136,001 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Shlomi Avdoo with plans filed July 20, 2022 and permitted March 3, 2023. The second largest is a 53-unit, 46,985 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Frank J. Rio and filed by Martin Jospeh with plans filed December 16, 2020 and permitted November 16, 2021.

The majority, or 32 percent of the 128,328 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 32 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Martin Joseph owned at least 10 commercial properties with 51 residential units in New York City with 40,776 square feet and a city-determined market value of $11.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $7 million in debt, borrowed from Piermont Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 40,776 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Pinches Abowitz owned at least 13 commercial properties with 197 residential units in New York City with 45,897 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $58.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as S3 Capital, Popular Bank, and Webster Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 35 percent of the 45,897 square feet of built space are retail properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. The bulk, or 68 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 30 percent of the space.

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