Watermark, Borough Developers sign 99-year lease valued at $3.9M for possible Ridgewood dev site

Watermark Capital Group and Borough Developers through the entity 5408 M LLC as tenant signed a 99-year ground lease valued at $3.9 million with landlord Chaskel Landau through the entity 5408 Myrtle LLC for the possible development site currently composed of the retail building (K1) at 54-08 Myrtle Avenue, the retail building (K1) at 54-16 Myrtle Avenue, and vacant lot (V1) at 7-45 Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens. PincusCo has determined the expected use is ground up development, but that is not confirmed.

Chaskel Landau and partners bought the entire triangular city block for $37 million, on October 29, a day before this lease was signed.
The lease deal closed on October 30, 2025 and was recorded on November 19, 2025. The three properties have 13,300 square feet of built space and 31,655 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 44,955 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $294 and the price per buildable square foot is $87 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 Chaskel Landau was Chaskel Landau. The signatory for Watermark Capital Group and Borough Developers was Meir D. Tabak . This is a 99-year ground lease. Meir D. Tabak of Watermark signed for the lessee, and the lessee address is in care of Borough Developers’ address.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Watermark Capital Group purchased 29 properties in 14 transactions for a total of $233.4 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Chaskel Landau purchased 10 properties in four transactions for a total of $57.3 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period. Out of the three properties, two with a total of 13,300 square feet of built space generated revenue of $621,030 per year.

The property

The retail building in Ridgewood has 13,300 square feet of built space and 31,655 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 44,955 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 88 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,800 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-3 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.3 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 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 Ridgewood, The bulk, or 38 percent of the 20 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Ridgewood has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $225.3 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Ridgewood has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 7th highest in Queens. It had 1.4 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

On the tax block of 54-08 Myrtle Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the eight commercial properties representing 72,861 square feet of the 105,227 square feet. The identified owner is Joseph Mauskopf.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 92 percent of the 105,227 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Chaskel Landau owned at least 35 commercial properties with 259 residential units in New York City with 314,842 square feet and a city-determined market value of $55.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $72 million in debt, with top three lenders as S3 Capital, A&E Real Estate Holdings, and Broadview Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 32 percent of the 314,842 square feet of built space are retail properties, with walkup properties next occupying 26 percent of the space. The bulk, or 67 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 23 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Watermark Capital Group owned at least 147 commercial properties with 1,585 residential units in New York City with 1,709,063 square feet and a city-determined market value of $337.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $353.3 million in debt, with top three lenders as Slate Property Group, BridgeCity Capital, and QuadReal Property Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 1,709,063 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 15 percent of the space. The bulk, or 88 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 6 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Borough Developers owned at least 22 commercial properties with 166 residential units in New York City with 204,362 square feet and a city-determined market value of $36.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $67.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as S3 Capital, Strong Entities, and Broadview Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 204,362 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with D1 properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. The bulk, or 62 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 38 percent of the space.

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