Wolfe Landau signs $47M refi with Signature Bank for 130-unit rental in Williamsburg

Wolfe Landau through the entity Three Two One LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Signature Bank valued at $47 million for the 130-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 321 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on June 3, 2022 and was recorded on July 7, 2022. The prior lender was Signature Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $43 million. The property has 169,319 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $277 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 Wolfe Landau was Wolfe Landau. The signatory for Signature Bank was Kenneth A. Stagnari.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Jacob Schwartz, head officer and Solomon Greenbaum, site manager. The business entity is Three Two One Llc. The 169,319-square-foot property generated revenue of $7.3 million or $43 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 321 Wythe Avenue parcel has frontage of 222 feet and is 99 feet deep with a total lot size of 28,063 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property has a 421A exemption that started in 2019 and expires in 2055. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $30 million.The most recent loan totaled $42 million and was provided by Signature Bank on August 10, 2020.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on November 1, 2018. On these lots, there is one active major alteration construction project for a 38,004-square-foot A-1 building. The project was developed by Anthony Hernandez with plans filed September 27, 2016 and permitted March 9, 2018.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, the bulk, or 40 percent of the 56.3 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsburg has the 9th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 8th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were two pre-foreclosure suit filed among other residential elevator buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the six commercial properties representing 169,319 square feet of the 177,619 square feet. The identified owner is Watermark Capital Group. There are four active new building construction projects totaling 36,330 square feet. The largest is a seven-unit, 11,871-square-foot R-2 building developed by Michal Kuras with plans filed September 16, 2016 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a one-unit, 8,153-square-foot R-3 building developed by Idan Shitrit with plans filed January 22, 2019 and permitted November 20, 2020.

The majority, or 75 percent of the 225,331 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Wolfe Landau owned at least two commercial properties with 184,321 square feet and a city-determined market value of $32.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $95.4 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 92 percent of the 184,321 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with C1 properties next occupying 8 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 321 Wythe Avenue, PincusCo identified seven commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those seven items, three were for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. They were two permit applications with a total initial cost of $4.8 million and one permit with a total initial cost of $283,000. The most recent of these three items was the filing on May 16, 2022 for a 22,874-square-foot R-2 building with 22 residential units at 303 Wythe Avenue.
One of those seven items was a sale which Chaskel Landau bought the 7,425-square-foot, one-unit industrial (F5) on 303 Wythe Avenue for $9 million from Bailey So on June 22, 2022.
Of those seven items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $49 million. The most recent of the three was Chaskel Landau which borrowed $14 million from S3 Capital secured by the 7,425-square-foot, one-unit industrial (F5) on 303 Wythe Avenue on June 30, 2022.