Moses Karpen pays $8M for four properties in Williamsburg

UPDATED June 21, 2023, 2:31 p.m.: Moses Karpen through the entity Broadway Cook LLC paid $8 million to Ana Kappel through the entity Broadway-Cook Realty LLC for the two-unit mixed-use building (K4) at 691 Broadway in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, retail building (K1) at 693 Broadway in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and retail building (K1) at 697 Broadway in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
In April 2023, Moses Karpen filed plans to demolish these three buildings. No new buildings plans have been filed.
The deal closed on June 5, 2023 and was recorded on June 13, 2023. The four properties have 8,660 square feet of built space and 16,577 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,223 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $918 and the price per buildable square foot is $315 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 Ana Kappel was Ana Kappel.

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 691 Broadway.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller Ana Kappel 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 Ana Kappel, head officer and Magdalene Jacobson, officer. The business entity is Broadway-Cook Realty. Out of the four properties, three with a total of 8,660 square feet of built space generated revenue of $234,206 per year.

The property

The mixed-use building with 2 residential units in Williamsburg has 8,660 square feet of built space and 16,577 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,223 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 157 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,697 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 $568,000.

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 three DOB 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 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 $2.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 9th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were four pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 691 Broadway, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 18 commercial properties representing 10,351 square feet of the 87,996 square feet. The two identified owners are Moses Guttman and Elysee Investment Company.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 5,151 square feet. It is a seven-unit, 5,151 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Joel Kaufman with plans filed February 23, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 72 percent of the 87,996 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space.

Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly identified the buyer as Yankov Weiss. The buyer has been corrected to Moses Karpen.

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