Wolfe Landau’s Watermark Capital inks $12.25M contract for Bed-Stuy dev site
295 Willoughby Avenue (Credit - Google)
Developer Wolfe Landau of Watermark Capital Group signed a $12.25 million contract to buy the two-parcel development site at 295 Willoughby Avenue and 920 Kent Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, from the Roman Catholic Church. The buildings are the former Church of St. Lucy – St. Patrick at 924 Kent Avenue and the adjacent rectory.
The parcel with 43,428 square feet of as-of-right development potential covers the entire 183-foot blockfront of Willoughby Avenue from Taaffe Place to Kent Avenue. The contract was disclosed in a filing seeking approval from the state Supreme Court, as required by state law.
Case LINK
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Watermark Capital Group owned at least 118 commercial properties with 1,203,009 square feet, 1,410 residential units and a city-determined market value of $226.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has debt borrowed from Signature Bank and Bridge City Funding. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 69 percent of the 1,203,009 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 93 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 7 percent of the space.
According to PincusCo data, the property 920 Kent Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant has 11,592 square feet of built space and 15,926 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 27,460 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 157 feet and is 87 feet deep with a total lot size of 13,730 square feet. 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 $1.1 million.
The property 285 Willoughby Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant has 6,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 87 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,174 square feet. 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 $389,000.
According to a JLL listing, the brokers Steven Rutman, Jeffrey Julien, Brendan Maddigan and Andrew Scandalios, were marketing the property.
“JLL has been exclusively retained to arrange the leasehold position for 295 Willoughby Avenue (the “Property” or “Site”), located along Willoughby Avenue between Taeffe Place and Kent Avenue in the Clinton Hill submarket of Brooklyn, New York. Situated in a R6B zoning district, the 15,906 SF site features 183’ of frontage on Willoughby Avenue allowing for the development of up to 43,428 ZSF as-of-right.”
According to the contract, “The ZLDA will provide for (a) a light and air easement, and (b) an allocation of development rights so that the Property shall have 43,762 buildable square feet of development rights.”
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.