Yeshiva pays $8M for dev site across street from main campus in Gravesend

Yeshivat Darche Eres, Inc., also known as the YDE School, paid $8 million to the Devito family for the industrial buildings at 324 Avenue Y in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The buildings are directly across the street from the Jewish elementary through high school campus at 325 Avenue Y. The likely use is as a development site.
The deal closed on August 26, 2024 and was recorded on September 5, 2024. The property has 15,072 square feet of built space and 16,312 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 31,370 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $530 and the price per buildable square foot is $255 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 school is supported by real estate investors such as the Chehebar, Hidary, Dweck and Jemal families. Michael Jemal signed on behalf of the school. The school borrowed $19 million from Israel Discount Bank in 2019 for its main location at 325 Avenue Y.

The property

The parcel has four buildings with frontage of 164 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 31,370 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.8 million.

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 not received any significant 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 Gravesend, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 19.2 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Gravesend has 1.6 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $425 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 14th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gravesend has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 14 commercial properties representing 99,040 square feet of the 148,294 square feet. The two identified owners are Beach Haven Apartments Cooperative and Sergio Chiara Of Diane Chiara.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 66 percent of the 148,294 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.

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