Simkowitz, Lebovits seek to close $16.65M purchase of 12 units in Borough Park

Solomon Simkowitz and Chaim Lebovits are seeking to close on the purchase of four adjacent walk up properties with a total of 12 residential units for $16.65 million, according to a recent lawsuit filed last week in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Property records and court filings indicate the seller of the properties, 1475, 1477, 1479 and 1481 54th Street, is Anne Gottlieb, who developed the four buildings, according to new construction filing applications such as job number 301920045, submitted in 2005 and signed off in 2010, for 1479 54th Street.
The complaint says the parties signed a contract on April 22, 2024, but that the sale has not yet closed. It details several points of contention between the parties.
Case LINK

Court filings represent the position of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.
Solomon Simkowitz and Chaim Lebovits allege the seller is placing a premature “time is of the essence” demand. According to the complaint, “On April 22, 2024, Plaintiffs and Defendants entered into a Contract of Sale and Rider (the “Contract”) whereby Defendants agreed to sell the Premises to Plaintiffs for $16,650,000.00… Pursuant to the Contract, Plaintiffs promptly tendered a substantial downpayment of $500,000…The Contract specifically contemplated an extended closing period of approximately twelve (12) months from the Effective Date, expressly recognizing Plaintiffs’ need to invest significant effort and resources—including renegotiating essential easements, buying out existing tenants, and conducting extensive improvements—to substantially increase the value of the Premises prior to closing… on June 12, 2025, while negotiations and preparations towards a closing were actively underway, Defendants purported to terminate the Contract unilaterally and declared an intent to retain Plaintiffs’ substantial downpayment as liquidated damages.”

The property

Anne Golttlieb submitted a new building construction project for a three-unit residential (J-2) building at 1475 54th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on March 21, 2005 under job number 301920045 and was permitted on January 10, 2008. It calls for the construction of a four-story building.The property with 3 residential units in Borough Park has 6,250 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 62 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,889 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property has a 421A exemption that started in 2012 and expires in 2027. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

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 near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $752.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 4th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Borough Park has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 17th highest in Brooklyn. It had 977,474 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the five commercial properties representing 53,628 square feet of the 195,226 square feet. The two identified owners are Kalmen M. Eisdorfer and Wolf Sicherman. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Anne Gottlieb, head officer and Ervin Feldman, agent. The business entities are Feldman Management Co LLC and 1475 54 Street LLC.

The surrounding

This is the first commercial real estate event of interest identified within the 400-foot radius of 1473 54 Street in the past 24 months.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page