Sunlight Development Group pays $18.8M for industrial in Greenpoint

Sunlight Development Group and Xia Zhou through the entity Greenpoint Summit LLC paid $18.8 million to Joseph Torres through the entity Greenpearl Group LLC for the industrial building (E1) at 49 Ash Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on July 21, 2023 and was recorded on August 1, 2023. The property has 52,003 square feet of built space and 51,050 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 103,132 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $360 and the price per buildable square foot is $181 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 seller bought the property on April 1, 2016, for $8.5 million. The signatory for Joseph Torres was Jose I. Torres Jr.. The signatory for Sunlight Development Group and Xia Zhou was Linzhong Zhuo. The contract date was March 24, 2023.

To finance the purchase, Sunlight Development Group and Xia Zhou through the entity Greenpoint Summit LLC as borrower signed an acquisition loan with lender Amerasia Bank valued at $11.5 million.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Sunlight Development Group purchased 17 properties in five transactions for a total of $50.1 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Joseph Torres had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 52,003-square-foot property generated revenue of $973,147 or $19 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The industrial building in Greenpoint has 52,003 square feet of built space and 51,050 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 103,132 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 139 feet and is 909 feet deep with a total lot size of 51,566 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-2 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $13.3 million and was provided by Ellington Management Group on July 8, 2022.

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 one DOB violation in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on April 23, 2013. 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 Greenpoint, The bulk, or 29 percent of the 23.7 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Greenpoint has 2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $706.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 7th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Greenpoint has 2.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the five commercial properties representing 86,003 square feet of the 129,123 square feet. The largest owner is New York City Housing Authority, followed by Joseph I. Torres Jr. and then Broadway Stages.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 18,106 square feet. It is a 11-unit, 18,106 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Tony Argento with plans filed December 26, 2013 and permitted April 12, 2019.

The majority, or 67 percent of the 129,123 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with office buildings next occupying 33 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joseph Torres owned at least three commercial properties with 110 residential units in New York City with 132,051 square feet and a city-determined market value of $32 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $27.3 million in debt, borrowed from Citibank and Edgewood Capital Advisors. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 44 percent of the 132,051 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sunlight Development Group owned at least six commercial properties in New York City with 34,417 square feet and a city-determined market value of $9.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $68.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as S3 Capital, iCross Capital, and Amerasia Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 62 percent of the 34,417 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with industrial properties next occupying 27 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

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