United Developers pays $1.6M for foreclosed mixed-use in Williamsburg

United Developers through the entity Madison 5 LLC paid $1.6 million for the two-unit mixed-use building (S2) at 347 Union Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The seller was an entity formerly owned by Bolivar Canarte that was sold through a foreclosure.
The deal closed on June 16, 2023 and was recorded on July 3, 2023. The property has 1,900 square feet of built space and 1,738 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 3,642 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $845 and the price per buildable square foot is $441 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 the foreclosed Bolivar Canarte entity was Susan Ellen Rizos. The signatory for United Developers was Sunil Agarwal. Matthew Ahdoot of United Developers signed the purchase agreement in court. The former owner Bolivar Canarte lost the property in a foreclosure in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn 1:22-cv-01624-CLP.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer United Developers purchased four properties in three transactions for a total of $9.1 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $5.6 million over the past 24 months.
The former owner Bolivar Canarte had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building with 2 residential units in Williamsburg has 1,900 square feet of built space and 1,738 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 3,642 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 60 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,499 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 $1.2 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 not received any significant violations 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 Williamsburg, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 50.4 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsburg has the 4th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 9th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were five pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 10 commercial properties representing 13,498 square feet of the 40,478 square feet. The two identified owners are Sunny Yau and Irena Kabala.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 51 percent of the 40,478 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 49 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that United Developers owned at least four commercial properties in New York City with 14,033 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 14,033 square feet of built space are retail properties, with industrial properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 42 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Bronx next at 33 percent of the space.

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