Brooklyn Heights

Beyond the Headlines: Multifamily real-estate investor Silvershore Properties and its Brooklyn Heights holdings

March 30, 2017 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Multifamily real-estate investor Silvershore Properties is offering Brooklyn Heights Historic District residential and retail building 77 Atlantic Ave. (the property on the corner) for sale. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
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Ka-ching!

A residential landlord with small rental buildings in Brooklyn Heights and other Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods hit the headlines recently because it’s selling roughly half of its big property portfolio.

The real estate firm is Silvershore Properties, headed by two entrepreneurs in their 30s, Jason Silverstein and David Shorenstein. They’ve been buying small multifamily buildings under the Silvershore banner since 2010.

These “deal junkies” — which is how Shorenstein described himself and his business partner in a 2013 interview in the Mann Report — have kept up a busy pace with their acquisitions.

They have amassed nearly 100 small multifamily properties, principally in Brooklyn. Some of their holdings are in Manhattan and Queens.

Now, Silvershore Properties is asking more than $200 million for a portfolio of 44 Brooklyn rental-apartment buildings, The Real Deal was the first to report. They’re located mostly in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick and Crown Heights. There are also buildings in Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Sunset Park.

Brokerage Cushman & Wakefield is handling the marketing of the buildings.

The Brooklyn Eagle reached out to the two entrepreneurs to ask what was their rationale for their big Brooklyn property sell-off. They declined to comment through a spokesman.

Silvershore Properties sold a smaller property portfolio in 2015 — to a prestigious buyer.

Related Cos. paid $39.4 million for the 10-building package, New York Real Estate Journal reported. Seven properties were located in Brooklyn neighborhoods including Greenpoint, Clinton Hill, Carroll Gardens and Prospect Heights. The other three buildings were located in Queens.

High-profile Related Cos. was the developer of Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle.  

An Atlantic Avenue Building For Sale Through a Separate Offering

So what about the buildings Silvershore Properties owns in our neighborhood?

Online sources indicate that one of the firm’s Brooklyn Heights Historic District multifamily buildings, 77 Atlantic Ave., AKA 331 Hicks St., is for sale.

It is being marketed separately from the 44-building portfolio that Silvershore Properties is selling.

Eastern Consolidated is the exclusive agent for the Atlantic Avenue property sale offering.

The four-story retail and residential building is located across the street from a development site where Long Island College Hospital (LICH) formerly stood. At that site, whose address is 339 Hicks St., bulldozers were parked atop massive mounds of dirt and rubble when the Heights Press stopped by on a recent rainy day.

But more about 77 Atlantic Ave. According to Eastern Consolidated’s online marketing material, the asking price is $5.45 million, reduced from $5.85 million.

The online posting has other salient details about the property. For instance, it notes that Hatchet Outdoor Supply Co., the building’s corner storefront tenant, has a lease through January 2023.

The building’s second retail space is vacant. Brooklyn Heights residents will recall it was occupied by Heights Apothecary — whose name is on a marshal’s legal possession notice attached to its front door.  

The property’s six apartments are all leased.

Two market-rate units have average rents of $4,200 per month. Three rent-stabilized units go for $1,296 per month on average. A rent-controlled apartment has an average rent of $735 per month.   

Silvershore Properties has owned 77 Atlantic Ave. since February 2014 — when Silvershore Properties 56 LLC and Silvershore Hicks LLC bought it for $3 million from Josephine Montero Gomez, city Finance Department records indicate.

Jason Silverstein signed a mortgage on behalf of both purchasing LLCs.

Silvershore Briefly Owned 115 Atlantic Ave.

Silvershore Properties owned another nearby Brooklyn Heights Historic District building, 115 Atlantic Ave., for about a nanosecond and then sold it for a hefty markup.

In June 2013, Silvershore Atlantic LLC bought the property for $1.99 million from G.V.C. Realty Ltd. with Gerard V. Cafaro as president, Finance Department records indicate.

At that time, the commercial space was occupied by Heights & Hill Funeral Directors. There were two apartments in the building.

In November 2013, Silvershore Atlantic LLC sold 115 Atlantic Ave. for $3.4 million, Finance Department records show. David Shorenstein’s name appears on the deed for this transaction. The buyers were Luigi Arlia, Filippo Arlia and C and A Properties LLC.  

By the way, in October 2016, Luigi Arlia and Filippo Arlia, who each had a one-third interest in the property, transferred their ownership stakes to C and A Properties LLC.

City Buildings Department filings identify Filippo Arlia as president of C and A Properties LLC and Luigi Arlia as vice president.

They filed plans with the buildings agency to turn the first-floor and cellar funeral-parlor space into a store, renovate the second, third and fourth floors as a single and duplex apartment and build an addition on the back of the building.

Also, signs they’ve hung on the building indicate that 115 Atlantic Ave.’s ground floor and finished basement are for rent.

Pierrepont Street Property Built in 1840

A Brooklyn Heights Historic District building Silvershore Properties currently owns is 56 Pierrepont St. It was built in 1840. A mansard roof was added in the late 19th century.

There are nine apartments in the building, which has a Flemish-bond brick façade.

Silvershore Properties 33 LLC purchased the Pierrepont Street building in December 2012 from Richard Montag and Carol Lynn Rifkin for $3.17 million, Finance Department records indicate.

Jason Silverstein and David Shorenstein signed a mortgage on behalf of the purchasing LLC.

Apartments previously listed for rent at 56 Pierrepont St. include a one-bedroom penthouse loft with a home office for a net rent of $3,850 per month when one month’s free rent was factored in, and a one-bedroom unit with an asking rent of $2,850 per month, online postings indicate.  

Repair Work at 293 Henry St.

Another Brooklyn Heights Historic District building that belongs to Silvershore Properties is 293 Henry St., a five-floor building with five apartments.

Silvershore Properties 21 LLC and RBJ Brooklyn LLC bought 293 Henry St. in March 2012 from Edgardo Macalino and Aurea Macalino for $1.25 million, Finance Department records show.

Jason Silverstein and David Shorenstein signed a mortgage on behalf of Silvershore Properties 21 LLC.

The Buildings Department has issued a permit for Silvershore Properties to replace a broken stone ledge and patch a parapet wall at 293 Henry St. There is a construction shed on the building’s lower floors.

Some past listings for apartments at 293 Henry St. were for three-bedroom units, one with an asking rent of $4,700 per month and another with a $3,600 per month asking rent.

Nearby Boerum Hill Buildings

Other multifamily buildings that belong to Silvershore Properties can be found in Boerum Hill, within walking distance of Brooklyn Heights.

Here are fast facts about a few nearby buildings that were gleaned from Finance Department records.

Silvershore Properties paid $1.2 million for 278 Dean St.

And 372 Baltic St. cost $1.46 million.

The purchase price of neighboring 208 Hoyt St., AKA 386 Baltic St., was $1.72 million.

Silvershore Properties bought 251 Hoyt St. for $1.15 million — then sold it a bit more than a year later for $1.975 million.

Brokers Who Longed to Own Buildings

Silvershore Properties’ founders worked at real estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap as investment sales brokers at the outset of their careers.

Silverstein stayed there for just a year because he wanted to be a property owner. Shorenstein stayed longer and racked up big sales numbers.

After launching Silvershore Properties, they focused heavily on our borough — though “we didn’t know anything about Brooklyn,” Silverstein told Real Estate Weekly in a 2014 interview. Their acquisition statistics suggest they were fast learners.

From January 2012 through September 2016, Silvershore Properties spent $75.2 million on 52 multifamily buildings of 10 units or less in Brooklyn and Queens, The Real Deal reported. The real estate firm was the second-biggest spender in that property category during that five-year period.

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