By Orlando Lee Rodriguez
Sam Boymelgreen has signed a long-term lease on a 90,000 s/f Gowanus loft building he plans to redevelop.
Boymelgreen — whose father Shaya enjoyed a meteoric rise in the luxury condo development sector during the boom years — paid $7 million for a 49-year triple-net lease at 255 Butler Street near the Wycoff-Gardens and Gowanus housing projects.
The multi-story loft style building is two blocks south and half a block east of the nearest residential properties. Two hotels, a Fairfield Inn and a Holiday Inn Express, are both located within a block of the site.
Sources close to the deal said that Boymelgreen will make an announcement of his exact plans at a press conference within the next few months.
The deal was put together by Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates, Inc., who represented owners Nathan and Solmi Accad, according to a statement released by KDA.
The lease was brokered by Bob Klein and James Dario of KDA. Klein was the broker who had originally arranged the sale of the building to the Accad’s almost 10 years ago.
“This long-term triple net lease is a prime example of the ongoing relationships that Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates enjoys with many owners,” said Klein. “With developers moving forward with several residential projects along the Gowanus Canal, this was a prime opportunity to maximize the value of the asset for the owners.”
The Accads, operating under 255 Butler LLC, purchased the property in 2004 for $2.7 million from New York City Industrial, according to city records. A $2.5 million mortgage was taken out from HSBC Bank USA in 2010.
This is the first well known project for Sam Boymelgreen. Throughout the boom years of the early 2000’s his father Shaya built more than 2,400 luxury condos at a rapid pace in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn through his partnership up with Lev Leviev, the diamond billionaire and founder of Africa Israel.
After the crash, the elder Boymelgreen faced a flurry of lawsuits from unit owners. His companies, including Liberty Pointe Bank which dolled out real estate loans, faded from view and his relationship with Leviev became fractured.
Located at the end of the Gowanas canal, the younger Boymelgreen’s development site sits seven blocks away from the Lightstone Group’s planned 700-unit rental development on the corner from Bond and 1st Streets.
Despite the canal being designated a Superfund site by the federal government, developers have shown keen interest in building residential properties in the area in anticipation of a cleanup.
REW was unable to secure comment from Boymelgreen by press time.
