Monarch Realty Faces Uphill Battle on Brooklyn Development

Things are heating up in Downtown Brooklyn.

A couple blocks from the Brooklyn Tower, at the corner of Livingston and Nevins streets, Monarch Realty Holdings has been flanked in its efforts to acquire two adjacent properties that would add to its recent acquisition at 340 Livingston Street.

In March, the Great Neck-based firm picked up the four-floor, 16,500 square foot property for $11.3 million, according to public records, but left behind two adjacent properties that now prove key should the group look to further develop the lot.

Next door at 342 Livingston Street sits a nearly 3,000-square-foot, two-story building with two rentals. On the adjoining street, the property behind Monarch’s property is a vacant lot at 33 Nevins Street owned by an LLC tied to Zalmen Wagschal.

The two properties were recently adjoined in a sale and put on the market by a team of brokers that includes Robert Ferman, Shaun Riney and Michael Salvatico of Marcus & Millichap, who declined to comment.

Combined, the two properties offer 28,000 of buildable square feet. Adding Monarch’s lot would allow for 63,000 buildable square feet — enough room for substantial height in the increasingly dense neighborhood.

The tag team of sellers now have leverage over Monarch and deepen the buyer pool, a source familiar with the deal told The Real Deal. Monarch Realty Holdings could not be reached for comment.

Wagschal was tagged as one of the “worst landlords” in the city, according to a 2016 ranking by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, with 385 housing violations and having defaulted on loans for at least 14 properties dating back to 2019.

His LLC had originally purchased 33 Nevins Street for $120,000 in 2012 with plans to construct a six-story building on the empty lot, according to city records. But instead, in 2020, Wagschal was sued after he defaulted on a $2.75 million loan collateralized by the property, a complaint filed with the Supreme Court of New York shows.