Yellow Jacket Ventures pays $8.2M to Jonas Equities for 61-unit rental in Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Yellow Jacket Ventures through the entity Hartland Chester LLC paid $8.2 million to Jonas Equities through the entity Jeremy Properties LLC for the 61-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 616-624 Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on February 26, 2025 and was recorded on March 24, 2025. The property has 54,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $152 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 seller bought the property on March 30, 2015, for $14.1 million. The signatory for Jonas Equities was Lawrence Bernstein . The signatory for Yellow Jacket Ventures was Akiva J. Kurland . The contract date was December 19, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Yellow Jacket Ventures purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $3.6 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Jonas Equities 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 Terry Bernstein, head officer and Lawrence Bernstein, officer. The business entity is Jeremy Properties Llc. The 54,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.2 million or $22 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential elevator building with 61 residential units in Prospect Lefferts Gardens has 54,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,968 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-1 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.6 million. The property has 59 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

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 21 housing violations and $50 in OATH penalties 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 23 of the 60 commercial properties representing 1,822,705 square feet of the 2,373,145 square feet. The largest owner is Hudson Companies, followed by Moshe Drizin and then Eric Miller.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 85 percent of the 2.4 million square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jonas Equities owned at least 11 commercial properties with 1,110 residential units in New York City with 1,159,253 square feet and a city-determined market value of $120.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $68.2 million in debt, borrowed from Citibank and Signature Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 1,159,253 square feet of built space are D4 properties, with elevator properties next occupying 48 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Yellow Jacket Ventures owned at least four commercial properties with 108 residential units in New York City with 48,490 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $33.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as Amalgamated Bank, Northeast Community Bank, and Citibank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 86 percent of the 48,490 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with development properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 56 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 44 percent of the space.

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