Brooklyn Standard Properties purchases 116 Bedford Avenue for $5.2 million

Brooklyn Standard Properties has purchased a four- story Williamsburg mixed-use building for $5.2 million at 116 Bedford Ave. The 6,000 s/f building is an eight-unit, four-story multifamily building located in Central Williamsburg, between North 10th and 11th St. It is the third Williamsburg building purchased by Brooklyn Standard Properties, BSP, the growing development company founded in 2013 by Benji Kohn and David Manheimer that specializes in purchasing and repositioning undervalued properties in Brooklyn in areas as Bushwick, Crown Heights, Carroll Gardens, Greenpoint, Prospect Heights and Williamsburg. This spring BSP purchased a four story, 20,000 sq. ft. mixed-use building at 39 Ainslie Street with nine residential units and a ground-floor commercial space for $7 million. BSP's first Williamsburg holding was 136 North 8th Street, a four-story walk-up building in central Williamsburg they paid $2.4 million for last October. "We love the neighborhood and the transformation that is going on there," said BSP Co-Founder Manheimer. "We see the great potential in all these properties." On the current Bedford Avenue Williamsburg deal, Cushman &Wakefield broker Brendan Maddigan represented the seller, FAO Corp., a small developer/investor in the neighborhood, who has owned the building for about 15 years, according to Kohn. Kohn said Brooklyn Standard Properties plans to convert the eight large one-bedroom apartments into six rental residential units and extend the rear of the building by 1,000 sq. ft. on the first floor, converting it into an 2,500 sq ft space for a doctor, dentist, urgent care office or yoga studio. The six new residential units will include: four two-bedrooms (two with outdoor space), 1 three-bedroom (with outdoor space) and 1 one-bedroom (with outdoor space). Brooklyn Standard Properties also owns: * 151 Dupont Street an eight-unit rent stabilized building in Greenpoint * 228 Jefferson Street, a six-unit rent stabilized building in Bushwick * 553 Bergen Street,an 8-unit rent stabilized building in Prospect Heights "We especially like communities on the fringe of gentrification," says Manheimer, who explains that after purchasing the under-managed rental buildings, they move quickly to renovate and upgrade the properties for today's young renters or small families who want larger apartments with more bedrooms, open kitchens with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, new floors and modern bathrooms. With the increase in real estate prices the partners have been able to show investors they are a strong company to park their dollars with. Recently the duo took a modern approach to finance and put two of their projects on fundrise.com, a popular crowd funding website, and raised half a million dollars of project equity. "The world is an interesting place and we look to utilize all the new tools available to us," says Manheimer. "We love to meet smart new investors." Both Kohn and Manheimer, both 36, bring an extensive finance background to running their real estate company.Kohn is also a successful independent movie producer who co-founded Paper Street Films, a New York-based independent film production and finance company, in 2008 with friends, Bingo Gubelmann and Austin Stark, who also wrote and directed "The Runner," starring Nicolas Cage released this summer. It is the first Paper Street project to be developed entirely in-house from start to finish. In addition to "The Runner" with Nicolas Cage that opened earlier this month, Kohn produced "Infinitely Polar Bear" starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana, that is also in theaters now. Other notable Paper Street Films include: 2009's "Peter and Vandy," starring Jason Ritter and Jesse Martin; the Werner Herzog directed, "My Son What Have Ye Done" with Josh Radnor, and "Happythankyoumoreplease" (which won the audience award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Before starting Paper Street Films, Kohn worked in international finance for six years at Bear Stearns as part of a strategic proprietary group that invested firm capital into emerging markets. Manheimer has over a dozen years of financial market experience working for some of the largest European banks where he traded, sold and managed trillions of corporate credit and residential mortgage backed securities.