Yoel Gruber signs $24.5M refi for development in Gravesend
Yoel Gruber through the entity Cropsey Airs Fee Holder LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Valley National Bank valued at $24.5 million for the development building (V1) at 2224 Cropsey Avenue in Gravesend, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on June 5, 2023 and was recorded on June 9, 2023. The prior lender was Cross River Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20 million.The property has zero square feet of built space and 18,402 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 18,402 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $N/A and the price per buildable square foot is $1,331 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 Yoel Gruber was Yoel Gruber. The signatory for Valley National Bank was Roland M. Cablayan. This refinances and adds additional debt to a $20 million construction loan Cross River Bank gave in 2021.
The property
The parcel has frontage of 20 feet and is 73 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,573 square feet. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $834,000. The most recent loan totaled $20 million and was provided by Cross River Bank on June 30, 2021.
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 $27,500 in ECB penalties and $27,500 in OATH penalties in the last year.
Development
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 110-unit, 765,291 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by NY Developers & Management and filed by Jay Zeldes with plans filed April 27, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.
The neighborhood
In Gravesend, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 19.1 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Gravesend has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $388.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 20th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gravesend has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 648,771 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the four commercial properties representing 649,073 square feet of the 649,073 square feet. The largest owner is W&L Group, followed by Landpex Development and then Cammeby’S International Group.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 1,227,221 square feet. The largest is a 110-unit, 765,291 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by NY Developers & Management and filed by Jay Zeldes with plans filed April 27, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 154-unit, 239,426 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by W&L Group and filed by Meng Hua Wang with plans filed September 24, 2014 and permitted December 21, 2020.
The majority, or 100 percent of the 649,073 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.
The borrower
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Yoel Gruber owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 25,500 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $9.5 million in debt, borrowed from Empire State Certified Development Corporation. The portfolio consists of at least a single industrial property. It is located in Brooklyn.
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