Watermark Capital Group signs $2M ground lease for 99-unit dev site in Williamsburg

Watermark Capital Group through the entity 277 North 8 LLC paid $2 million to Roman Catholic Church and Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel through the entity The Roman Catholic Church Of Ourladyof Mountcarmel for the ground lease specialty building (M3) at 277 North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The expected use is residential ground up development.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, B01206874, for a 99-unit, 83,318 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by David Grunfeld and filed by David Grunfeld with plans filed April 8, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on March 10, 2026 and was recorded on March 17, 2026. The property has 11,800 square feet of built space and 18,426 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 30,253 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $169 and the price per buildable square foot is $66 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 Roman Catholic Church and Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was Witold Mroziewski. The signatory for Watermark Capital Group was Wolfe Landau . This is 99-year ground lease.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Watermark Capital Group purchased 35 properties in 15 transactions for a total of $272.2 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Roman Catholic Church had not purchased any other properties and sold 24 properties in 14 transactions for a total of $283.4 million over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in Williamsburg has 11,800 square feet of built space and 18,426 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 30,253 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 154 feet and is 111 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,450 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-2/R6 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.4 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 $5,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

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 6th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 2nd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 42 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 83 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the six commercial properties representing 126,538 square feet of the 138,678 square feet. The largest owner is Witnick Real Estate Partners, followed by Berel Jacobowitz and then Roman Catholic Church.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 113,002 square feet. The largest is a 99-unit, 83,318 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by David Grunfeld and filed by David Grunfeld with plans filed April 8, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 23-unit, 29,684 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Joel Braver and filed by Joel Braver with plans filed March 15, 2018 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 52 percent of the 138,678 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Roman Catholic Church owned at least 153 commercial properties with 886 residential units in New York City with 5,692,132 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.1 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 5,692,132 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with M1 properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. The bulk, or 46 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 24 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Watermark Capital Group owned at least 146 commercial properties with 1,771 residential units in New York City with 1,700,909 square feet and a city-determined market value of $332.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $507.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Slate Property Group, BridgeCity Capital, and S3 Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 1,700,909 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.

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