Soltage signs $11M construction loan for battery storage in Gravesend industrial area

Soltage through the entity McDonald BESS, LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender National Bank of Canada  valued at $11 million for a battery energy storage system [BESS] planned for 2481 McDonald Avenue in Gravesend, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on June 26, 2025 and was recorded on August 13, 2025. The property has 2,879 square feet of built space and 3,492 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 6,350 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The price per buildable foot is not relevant since the owner proposes to construct infrastructure with no building floor area.
The signatory for Soltage was Sripradha Ilango .

Soltage controls the land through a 20-year lease signed in March 2025 with the Lopopolo family.

Soltage filed a New York City Department of Buildings plan, B01030570, for “general construction for installation of battery energy storage system and associated equipment in OSP.” OSP stands for Outside Plant, or physical infrastructure of a network that is located outside of buildings. The existing building will be demolished, according to related DOB plans. The storage infrastructure will be installed within heavy soundproofing walls, according to the filing.

According to a Department of Buildings’ Conditional Acceptance Letter for the plan, issued by Office of Technical Certification and Research, which is responsible for evaluating new technologies: “Project Description. The proposed 5 MW/ 23.5 MWh energy storage system contains 6 Tesla Megapack 2XL ESS enclosures, model 1848844-XX-Y. The BESS will be located outdoors at ground level and the installation is not rated for occupancy. The BESS will be charged from the utility grid, and then discharge back to the utility grid during peak electricity demand time, reducing the likelihood of straining assets when the system needs them the most. This will extend the lifetime of existing electric infrastructure and reduce the frequency of blackouts and outages, ultimately reducing the cost of electricity.”

The property

The parcel has frontage of 40 feet and is 150 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,350 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.2 million. The most recent loan totaled $2.6 million and was provided by National Bank Of Canada on June 26, 2025.

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 $300 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 Gravesend, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 19.2 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Gravesend has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $307.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 22nd highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gravesend has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 517,437 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 23 commercial properties representing 4,595 square feet of the 99,155 square feet. The two identified owners are Eugene Simonetti Jr As Trustee and Haim Chahino.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 3,750 square feet. It is a 3,750 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Rizwan Ahmed with plans filed June 29, 2017 and permitted August 17, 2020.

The majority, or 51 percent of the 99,155 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 39 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Soltage owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 0.0 square feet and a city-determined market value of $622,000. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $28.5 million in debt, borrowed from National Bank of Canada. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 0 percent of the 0.0 square feet of built space are development properties, with industrial properties next occupying 0 percent of the space.

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