Satmar congregation pays $2.7M for Borough Park dev site

Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar through the entity Congregation Yetev Lev Of 58th Street paid $2.7 million to Paula Leibowitz through the entity 5804-5806 New Utrecht LLC for the retail building (K2) at 5804 and 5806 New Utrecht Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development. The congregation also owns the adjacent property with the address 5802 New Utrecht Avenue, according to mortgage documents, but a deed has not yet been recorded. Plans were filed in June to demolish all three buildings.
The deal closed on August 20, 2024 and was recorded on August 30, 2024. The three properties combined have 13,108 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.

The sale price per foot for the two properties 5804 and 5806 New Utrecht Avenue is $346 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 the seller Paula Leibowitz was Zahava Kar. The signatory for Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar was Joel Kish. The contract date was April 12, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar purchased two properties in one transaction for a total of $9.9 million at 437 Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg, and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Paula Leibowitz had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The two properties with a total of 7,828 square feet of built space generated revenue of $299,183 per year or $38 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $347.

The property

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 $662,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Borough Park, The bulk, or 25 percent of the 23.3 million square feet of commercial built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Borough Park has 2.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $580 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Borough Park has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 18th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

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

The majority, or 60 percent of the 40,822 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space.

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