Success Academy pays $37.2M to Magen David for school in Gravesend

Success Academy Charter Schools through the entity 7801 Bay Parkway, LLC paid $37.2 million to Magen David Yeshivah through the entity Magen David Yeshivah for the specialty building (W2) at 7801 Bay Parkway in Gravesend, Brooklyn and specialty building (Q9) at 7815 Bay Parkway in Gravesend, Brooklyn.

Magen David Yeshivah, which counts real estate investors such as Jeff Sutton as trustees, is selling this building while it is developing a new, 81,018-square-foot high school building at 370 Quentin Road in Gravesend which is expected to be completed in January 2027 with a construction cost of $49.9 million, excluding land acquisition.
Magen David Yeshivah paid $13.8 million in June 2023 for the three-parcel development site at 1889-1915 McDonald Avenue where it is building a new school building.

The deal closed on June 18, 2024 and was recorded on June 24, 2024. The two properties have 47,404 square feet of built space and 1,168 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $785 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 Magen David Yeshivah was Morris Missry. The signatory for Success Academy Charter Schools was Shabbir Ahmed. The contract date was November 29, 2023.

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 7801 Bay Parkway.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Success Academy Charter Schools purchased 11 properties in two transactions for a total of $30 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Magen David Yeshivah purchased three properties in two transactions for a total of $13.8 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in Gravesend has 47,404 square feet of built space and 1,168 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 130 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 13,000 square feet. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $15.5 million.

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 one DOB violation in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, one out of the two buildings received a initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. 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 1.6 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $435.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 16th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gravesend has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

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

The majority, or 84 percent of the 50,324 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with office buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Magen David Yeshivah owned at least three commercial properties with two residential units in New York City with 22,026 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 87 percent of the 22,026 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 13 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Success Academy Charter Schools owned at least 12 commercial properties in New York City with 142,905 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, all identified are industrial properties. The bulk, or 83 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Queens next at 17 percent of the space.

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