Police Athletic League pays $6M to Jonas Equities for school building in East New York

The child-development and recreation nonprofit Police Athletic League paid $6 million to Jonas Equities through the entity 452 Pennsylvania Avenue LLC for the school building (W9) at 452 Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn. The expected use is owner-occupied.
The deal closed on August 19, 2025 and was recorded on August 29, 2025. The property has 18,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $333 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 Jonas Equities was Lawrence Bernstein . The contract date was June 17, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Police Athletic League had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Jonas Equities had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $8.2 million over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in East New York has 18,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 60 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,000 square feet. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. 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 for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $25 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 East New York, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 44.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, East New York has 1.3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $373.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 20th highest in Brooklyn. For development, East New York has 3.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Brooklyn. It had 4.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 62 percent of the 28,876 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 38 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jonas Equities owned at least 11 commercial properties with 1,114 residential units in New York City with 1,159,253 square feet and a city-determined market value of $120.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $68.2 million in debt, borrowed from Citibank and Signature Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 1,159,253 square feet of built space are D4 properties, with elevator properties next occupying 48 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Direct link to Acris document. link