Yitzchok Kohn pays $9.2M for Chaim Miller’s bankrupt rentals in Williamsburg

Yitzchok Kohn through the entity 205 N LLC paid $9.2 million to Madison Realty Capital through the entity 203-205 North 8th Street Loft LLC for the six-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 203 North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and nine-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 205 North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The prior owner of the buildings was Chaim Miller, who purchased them in 2013 for $10.5 million. He battled lender Madison Realty Capital for years in state court and then through a 2020 bankruptcy filing. Madison Realty Capital won control of the properties through the bankruptcy, and then sold the buildings to the new buyer, according to a PincusCo analysis of court records.
The sale closed on May 8, 2023 and was recorded on June 23, 2023. The two properties have 19,100 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $479 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 Madison Realty Capital was Jerold C. Feuerstein. The signatory for Yitzchok Kohn was Aaron Kohn.

This sale is the result of a bankruptcy filing 1-20-40793-nhl

Madison Realty Capital pursued the state court case in Brooklyn, under index number 509303/2015  Greg Corbin of North Point Real Estate Group, but at the time at Rosewood Realty Group, managed the auctions as the broker.

A party filed a summary of the case in the bankruptcy court through in a motion accusing Chaim Miller of contempt: “The Auction for the sale of the Debtor’s Property took place via zoom on March 15, 2022. After several bids from several different bidders, the Insider Plaintiff placed the highest bid for $10,550,000.00 (plus the buyer’s premium). As per the Initial Bid Procedures, the Insider Plaintiff increased its $1,000,000 deposit to $1,055,000 (the “Deposit”). Upon information and belief, the Insider Plaintiff is managed or controlled and owned directly or indirectly by Sprei and Miller… Insider Group had the right to and did obtain a
further 30 day extension, provided it paid for the carry costs from the original May 12, 2022 closing deadline through closing. (Bid Procedures, ¶ G). Due to possible application of Bankruptcy Rule 9006(a)(1)(C), the final closing deadline was thus June 13, 2022… [following additional extensions] As of August 29, 2022, the Insider Plaintiff’s lender’s counsel was still requesting information to complete its review. This, of course, confirms that the Insider Plaintiff was mistaken or lying when it told this Court at July hearing that he would be ready to close within 24 hours of receiving the pro forma… Bankruptcy Court rejected the request of Plaintiff’s Letter and entered an order on December 6, 2022 [ECF No. 242] (the “Order Restarting Sales Process”), granting the relief in the Supplement, restarting the sales process and overruling the Insider Letter. ..[Chaim Miller] under the title “203-205 North 8th Property LLC v. 203-205 North 8 Street LLC”, Index No. 505906/2023 (the “State Court Lawsuit”) by filing a summons with notice (the “Summons with Notice”). In the State Court Lawsuit, the Insider Plaintiff seeks specific performance of a contract of sale of the Property, as well as monetary damages, which is effect, upon information and belief, a request for the return of the Deposit…. On March 2, 2023, counsel to the Proponents again called Mr. Seddio to inquire as to the status of the discontinuance. Mr. Seddio advised that it was his understanding that non of the parties to the State Court Lawsuit had filed for bankruptcy, seemingly ignoring the fact that the owner of the Property that was the subject of the State Court Lawsuit had filed for bankruptcy.”

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 203 North 8th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Yitzchok Kohn had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Chaim Miller bankrupt 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 Gregory Laspina, head officer and Anand Ramsadek, site manager. The business entities are Black Diamond Realty and Gregory Laspina As Receiver Of 203-205 North 8th S. The two properties with a total of 19,100 square feet of built space generated revenue of $483,422 per year or $25 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $479.

The property

The residential elevator building with 6 residential units in Williamsburg has 19,100 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 101 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,531 square feet. The zoning is M1-2/R6A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.4 million.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, two out of the two buildings received a initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. 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 the tax block of 203 North 8th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 12 commercial properties representing 115,350 square feet of the 156,983 square feet. The largest owner is TF Cornerstone, followed by RYL Group and then Richard Cohn.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 13,488 square feet. The largest is a four-unit, 6,744 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Howard Ng with plans filed June 18, 2021 and permitted February 24, 2023. The second largest is a four-unit, 6,744 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Howard Ng with plans filed October 7, 2013 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 67 percent of the 156,983 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Madison Realty Capital owned at least 62 commercial properties with 2,652 residential units in New York City with 2,706,910 square feet and a city-determined market value of $375.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $959.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Signature Bank, Athene Annuity And Life Company, and FTLP LLC respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 77 percent of the 2,706,910 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 13 percent of the space. The bulk, or 36 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 33 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Yitzchok Kohn owned at least one commercial property with six residential units in New York City with 6,006 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single walkup property. It is located in Brooklyn.

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