Zoning change submitted to allow about 120 units near Williamsburg waterfront

Kent Riverview LLC, an entity that includes Mier Isumor Schweid as a member, is seeking a zoning change that would allow a 40-unit building on property it owns at 230 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The change would also permit the construction of an approximately 80-unit building on the adjacent vacant land currently owned by Consolidated Edison, according to the application and related documents.
The plan was submitted December 28, 2022 through the number 2022K0391.

The tax lot for Kent Riverview LLC’s parcel is Lot 1, while ConEd’s parcel is Lot 3.

According to the application, “A zoning map amendment (M1-4 to M1-4/R7X [MX-8]) and zoning text amendment (Appendix F) to facilitate a new eight-story, approximately 32,800 [zoning square feet and 40 dwelling units] mixed-use development, including approx. 29,500 [square feet] of residential floor area and 3,300 [square feet] of commercial floor area, is being sought by private applicant Kent Riverview LLC at 230 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Community District 1, Brooklyn.”

According to the lead agency letter, “The applicant, Kent Riverview LLC, is requesting discretionary actions including a Zoning Map Amendment to rezone the Project Area (Block 2362, Lots 1 and 3) from M1-4 to M1-4/R7X within Special Mixed-Use District 8 (MX-8), and a Zoning Text Amendment to Appendix F to establish a new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) area coterminous with the Project Area. The Proposed Actions would facilitate the development of a new eight-story, 105-foot-tall, approximately 43,095 gross square feet (gsf) mixed-use building including approximately 40 dwelling units of which 10-12 would be affordable pursuant to MIH, and 6,059 gsf of commercial retail at the applicant owned Development Site (Block 2362, Lot 1) located at 230 Kent Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn Community District 1.”

According to the EAS from December 2022, “Projected Development Site 2 is assumed to maximize its allowable residential FAR, resulting in an approximately 94,670 gsf building with an estimated 70,050 gsf of residential space (excluding cellar space) and 13,765 gsf of local retail space and approximately 10,850 gsf of parking area in the cellar. Assuming an average unit size of 850 gsf, Projected Development Site 2 is assumed to have approximately 82 DUs, with up to 25 DUs (30% of residential floor area) affordable pursuant to MIH.” Development Site 2 is on lot 3, and is owned by ConEd.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 57 feet and is 102 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,862 square feet. The zoning is M3-1 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $269,000.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold for $2.5 million on October 23, 2017.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $6,250 in ECB penalties and $6,250 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Williamsburg, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 49.7 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsburg has the 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsburg is the 10th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the two commercial properties representing zero square feet of the zero square feet. The identified owner is Consolidated Edison. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 230 Kent Avenue, PincusCo identified six commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those six items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit application filed on December 23, 2021 for a 444,575-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 399 residential units at 105 River Street. Of those six items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on March 25, 2022 for the $399,042 renovation of 16,885-square-foot storage (S-2) building with four residential units at 252 Kent Avenue. One of those six items was a sale which DAX Real Estate bought the 6,798-square-foot, seven-unit mixed-use building (S5) on 237 Kent Avenue and one other property for $12.3 million from Mendel Gold on December 30, 2021. Of those six items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $123.9 million. The most recent of the three was Yaakov Klein in which borrowed $53 million from Bank of America secured by the 75,729-square-foot, 70-unit rental (D7) on 187 Kent Avenue on December 20, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.