Brooklyn residential owner dives into retail with $35M purchase

The Brooklyn-based real estate firm headed by Moshe Piller — and known more for its residential holdings — paid $35.5 million for five retail properties in Borough Park from the Chehebar family’s Jackson Group.

The sale of the properties, which run along a three block stretch of 13th Avenue between 43rd and 46th streets, represents a more than 50 percent increase in property value over the purchase price three years ago. The price underscores the overall rise in value driven by continuing rental growth optimism and by investors looking to place 1031 exchange funds.

The properties are 4310-24, 4404, 4406-12, 4414-24, and 4502-08 13th Avenue. The first four properties are retail locations occupied by footwear sellers Fabco Shoes and Payless, child clothing stores Carter’s and Children’s Place, bank HSBC, medical testing service Labcorp and grocer Boro Park Food Mart. The space at 4502-08 13th Avenue, a corner parcel at 45th Street, is vacant. Piller’s MP Management expects to redevelop it into a two- or three-story retail property with the possibility of office space, the company told The Real Deal.

Asking rents on the strip are between $75 per foot and $100 per foot, industry sources said.

While MP Management, based in Borough Park a few blocks away, owns commercial properties, it is best known in the real estate community for its residential properties, brokers said, such as the 126-unit 1229 Clay Avenue, which CoStar Group says is one of his holdings.

The sale closed in mid-August, but has not yet hit public records.

The Jackson Group, headed by brothers Ike and Elliott Chehebar, bought the five properties in 2011 for $22.67 million, although it did not undertake a rehabilitation to drive up the value, it did sign several new tenants, insiders said. The Jackson Group and MP Management declined to comment.

Moshe Majeski of the Moshe Group brokered the transaction. He did not respond to a request for comment.