State approves planned $5.9M Bed Stuy dev site sale to Mendel Fleischman
441 Willoughby Avenue (Credit - Cyclomedia)
The New York State Attorney General approved a petition the all-woman Brooklyn Masonic Lodge filed through the entity United Grand Chapter Order Of Eastern Star, State Of New York, to sell 441 Willoughby Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, to developer Mendel Fleischman for $5.9 million. The sale is expected to close in about a month. The nonprofit made the petition to the Attorney General as part of a requirement that a nonprofit obtain Attorney General or state court approval to sell a major asset.
A prior attempt to sell the property, to Tomer Erlich, was rejected in late 2024 by a New York State Supreme Court justice, who enumerated a list of reasons the prior contract, for $4.3 million, should be voided. The reasons included: “The Court is also concerned with the fact that the last 990 informational return was filed in 2014 and the IRS subsequently revoked the status in 2017. The Court is also concerned with the potential conflict of interest between the Petitioner and the purchaser considering that the same attorney represents both. This all goes towards — these concerns goes towards the issue of the credibility of the case being made by the Petitioner that it is receiving adequate consideration.”
The Brooklyn Masonic Lodge sought New York State court approval to sell the vacant parcel at 441 Willoughby Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant to developer Tomer Erlich for $4.3 million, but the sale was initially delayed because the Attorney General alleged the property was worth more, and the property has been the subject of a public dispute over the demolition of the 19th century Jacob Dangler mansion that formerly occupied the site.
The Masons have owned the property since at least 1954, according to city records. By May 2019, the lodge had taken on $1.525 million in debt, but fell behind in payments, and in December 2020, the lender filed a pre-foreclosure action, 524325/2020, which remains ongoing.
The nonprofit signed a contract in September 2021 with Tomer Erlich, who then assigned the contract to another entity he controls, 441 Willoughby LLC.
According to the petition to sell the property, the lodge is, “a fraternal organization recognized as exempt under Internal Revenue Code… is an all-female Masonic Lodge which has been engaged in a variety of activities for the benefit of its members and youth in the neighborhoods it serves. Among other things, the Corporation conducts a food pantry for the neighborhood on a bi-weekly basis.”
The property
The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,000 square feet. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $133,000.
Violations and lawsuits
According to city public data, the property has received $6,700 in OATH penalties in the last year.
The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $4.3 million judgment concerning a leave to sell filed on May 2, 2024, by United Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star State of New York against Tomer Erlich.
The neighborhood
In Bedford Stuyvesant, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 54.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Bedford Stuyvesant has the 10th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Bedford Stuyvesant has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.9 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
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the eight commercial properties representing 95,138 square feet of the 99,460 square feet. The largest owner is Hudson Companies, followed by Jack Garber and then Joel Weiss. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 2,500 square feet. It is a eight-unit, 2,500 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yoel Kahan with plans filed June 15, 2022 and permitted April 11, 2025.
The surrounding
This is the first commercial real estate event of interest identified within the 400-foot radius of 167 Nostrand Avenue in the past 24 months.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.