Yitzchok Schwartz pays $6M through bankruptcy for likely dev site in Bedford Stuyvesant
Yitzchok Schwartz through the entity Van Buren II LLC paid $6 million through a bankruptcy to Upper Room Baptist Church through the entity Richard J Corbi, Esq, Chapter 11 Operating Trustee for the specialty building (M1) at 180 Van Buren in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on April 21, 2026 and was recorded on April 28, 2026. The property has 12,610 square feet of built space and 17,400 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 30,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $475 and the price per buildable square foot is $200 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 Upper Room Baptist Church was Richard J. Corbi. The signatory for Yitzchok Schwartz was Yitzchok Schwartz. The contract date was December 22, 2025.
The bankruptcy was filed in 2025 in the Eastern District of New York under index number 25-40070-nhl.
Prior sales, articles and revenue
Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Yitzchok Schwartz purchased 15 properties in eight transactions for a total of $160.6 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Upper Room Baptist Church had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.
The property
The specialty building in Bedford Stuyvesant has 12,610 square feet of built space and 17,400 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 30,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,000 square feet. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $991,388.
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 $650 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 neighborhood
In Bedford Stuyvesant, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 54.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Bedford Stuyvesant has 3.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.3 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Brooklyn. For development, Bedford Stuyvesant has 2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Brooklyn. It had 3.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 12 commercial properties representing 57,093 square feet of the 57,093 square feet. The largest owner is Sharp Management, followed by Adele Selby and then Tomer Erlich.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 11,550 square feet. It is a 10-unit, 11,550 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Brian Hughes with plans filed September 20, 2022 and permitted February 12, 2025.
The majority, or 100 percent of the 57,093 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.
The buyer
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Yitzchok Schwartz owned at least 23 commercial properties with 428 residential units in New York City with 523,205 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $620.6 million. The portfolio has $503 million in debt, with top three lenders as G4 Capital Partners, PGIM Real Estate, and Greystone & Co. respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 523,205 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 19 percent of the space. The bulk, or 88 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 11 percent of the space.
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