Watermark modifies ground lease with St. Cecilia’s in Williamsburg valued at $9M

Watermark Capital Group through the entity Seventeen Monitor LLC modified an existing ground lease, now valued at $9 million, signed with landlord St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church, for control of four properties with redevelopment potential including the specialty building (W2) at 17 Monitor Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 16-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 211 Richardson Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and 15-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 21 Monitor Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on July 9, 2025 and was recorded on July 22, 2025. The four properties have 73,297 square feet of built space and 1,925 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 75,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $122 and the price per buildable square foot is $120 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 Watermark Capital Group was Wolfe Landau . This is a 99-year ground lease.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 17 Monitor Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Watermark Capital Group purchased 17 properties in 11 transactions for a total of $152.5 million and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $4 million over the past 24 months.
The seller St. Cecelia’s Roman Catholic Church had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Mordechai Landau, head officer and Jack Basch, site manager. The business entity is Seventeen Monitor Llc. Out of the four properties, two with a total of 73,297 square feet of built space generated revenue of $1 million per year.

The property

The specialty building in Williamsburg has 73,297 square feet of built space and 1,925 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 75,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 120 feet deep with a total lot size of 24,500 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $8.5 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 received two DOB violations, four housing violations, and $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, three out of the four buildings received a initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. 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 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 41.7 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. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other specialty buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 17 Monitor Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the four commercial properties representing 17,902 square feet of the 76,252 square feet. The two identified owners are Benny Weingarten and Andrew Formichella.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 64 percent of the 76,252 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Roman Catholic Church owned at least 152 commercial properties with 886 residential units in New York City with 5,060,418 square feet and a city-determined market value of $978.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 35 percent of the 5,060,418 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with M1 properties next occupying 18 percent of the space. The bulk, or 44 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 21 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Watermark Capital Group owned at least 136 commercial properties with 1,530 residential units in New York City with 1,590,954 square feet and a city-determined market value of $310.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $267 million in debt, with top three lenders as Slate Property Group, BridgeCity Capital, and Signature Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 51 percent of the 1,590,954 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. The bulk, or 89 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 6 percent of the space.

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