Sterling Equities signs $12.8M refi for four adjacent rentals in Crown Heights

Sterling Equities through the entity 1378 Bedford LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Valley National Bank through the entity Valley National Bank valued at $12.8 million for four adjacent residential elevator properties with 10 units each and a total of 40 units, at 1378, 1380, 1382 and 1384 Bedford Avenue.
The deal closed on July 1, 2025 and was recorded on July 24, 2025. The prior lender was Customers Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $15.9 million.The four properties have 38,400 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $334 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 Sterling Equities was Gregory Katz . The signatory for Valley National Bank was Leo Kuba.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 1378 Bedford Avenue.

The property

The residential elevator building with 10 residential units in Crown Heights has 38,400 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,500 square feet. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The property has a 421A exemption that started in 2010 and expires in 2035. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.4 million. The property has 10 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

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 received $9,225 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 block

On the tax block of 1378 Bedford Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of 14 of the 19 commercial properties representing 111,152 square feet of the 120,544 square feet. The largest owner is Sterling Equities, followed by Watermark Capital Group and then Joel Fekete.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 9,685 square feet. It is a 14-unit, 9,685 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by David Simhaee with plans filed January 20, 2022 and permitted May 11, 2023.

The majority, or 64 percent of the 120,544 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 33 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sterling Equities owned at least 30 commercial properties with 277 residential units in New York City with 1,540,924 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.3 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $27.1 million in debt, borrowed from Valley National Bank and New York Community Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 81 percent of the 1,540,924 square feet of built space are Q6 properties, with walkup properties next occupying 11 percent of the space. The bulk, or 82 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 17 percent of the space.

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