United American Land signs $9M refi loan with First Citizens Bank for retail in Downtown Brooklyn

United American Land through the entity 395 Jay Associates LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender First Citizens Bank through the entity First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company valued at $9 million for the retail building (K1) at 395 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on April 8, 2025 and was recorded on May 2, 2025. The prior lender was Blackstone Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $7 million.The property has 12,520 square feet of built space and 119,279 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 131,800 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $718 and the price per buildable square foot is $68 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 United American Land was Albert Laboz .

Prior sales and revenue

The 12,520-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.2 million or $98 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The retail building in Downtown Brooklyn has 12,520 square feet of built space and 119,279 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 131,800 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 88 feet and is 115 feet deep with a total lot size of 13,180 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-4.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.3 million.

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 $25 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 Downtown Brooklyn, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 22.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Downtown Brooklyn has 1.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $388.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 18th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Downtown Brooklyn has 2.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Brooklyn. It had 3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 15 of the 22 commercial properties representing 111,273 square feet of the 136,044 square feet. The largest owner is United American Land, followed by Solomon Schwimmer and then Wharton Properties.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 90,714 square feet. The largest is a 101-unit, 82,366 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Solomon Schwimmer and filed by Solomon Schwimmer with plans filed May 25, 2023 and permitted December 8, 2023. The second largest is a 8,348 square-foot mercantile (M) building submitted by Albert Laboz with plans filed January 7, 2020 and permitted April 21, 2021.

The majority, or 89 percent of the 136,044 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that United American Land owned at least 52 commercial properties with 256 residential units in New York City with 983,102 square feet and a city-determined market value of $358.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $438 million in debt, with top three lenders as Signature Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Israel Discount Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 983,102 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with elevator properties next occupying 23 percent of the space. The bulk, or 56 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 27 percent of the space.

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