Brooklyn investor planning multifamily project in Mott Haven

Brooklyn investor Shimshon Grunstein has inked a 99-year ground lease at a Mott Haven property, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Grunstein received the lease for 550 Trinity Avenue and 571 Jackson Avenue from landlord M&R Friedlander Supply Company, and he plans to build a multifamily development on the site. The roughly 15,000-square-foot lot is currently home to a one-story warehouse, and it allows for up to about 73,000 as of right buildable square feet.

The property had been in the Friedlander family for more than 40 years, and they used it as a sheet metal manufacturing plant.

Friedlander and Grunstein did not respond to requests for comment.

Michael Ferrara and Daniel Thompson

Michael Ferrara of Brax Realty and Daniel Thompson of Savills Studley brokered the deal, which they said is worth $108 million over its lifespan.

“You used to only see these ground lease transactions happen in Manhattan,” Ferrara said in a statement, “but with the demand from developers for ground up projects in the Bronx and property owners not willing to part ways with their land, I am certain we will be seeing many more of these transactions in the years to come.”

Other recent 99-year leases in the Bronx include one worth $82 million from Kim Tasher’s SKF Development at 1760 Boone Avenue and one worth $49.1 million from Gilbane Development Company at 2251 Webster Avenue and 2244 Tiebout Avenue.

Mott Haven has become one of the trendiest neighborhoods for developers in the Bronx and is home to arguably the most ambitious project throughout the borough in Brookfield Property Partners’ seven-building, 1,300-unit development at 2401 Third Avenue and 101 Lincoln Avenue.