Bensonhurst corner property sold for $8.4 million

March 20, 2013 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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A corner property on 18th Avenue – one of Bensonhurst’s most heavily trafficked thoroughfares – has been sold to new owners, according to a report on a real estate website.

The Commercial Observer reported on March 19 that the property at 6601 18th Ave., a vacant lot where a 4,000-square-foot Bank of America branch is slated to be constructed, was sold to a company called Ninth Avenue Equities Co. Inc. for $8.4 million. The property was sold by developer Joseph Cayre, of Midtown Equities, and Isaac Chera, a principal at Crown Acquisitions, city records show.

The owners listed the property through Massey Knakal Realty Services. In its listing, Massey Knakal described 18th Avenue as “one of the neighborhood’s most visible and heavily-trafficked thoroughfares.” The real estate firm also touted the property as “an obvious location” for a bank.

“Ground leased for 20 years, the property offers prospective purchasers a high yield, management free investment opportunity in the heart of one of Brooklyn’s fastest growing middle-class neighborhoods,” the listing read.

The original asking price for the property at 6601 18th Ave. was $9.75 million, the Commercial Observer reported.

The lot sits on the corner of 18th Avenue and 66th Street, in the middle of a shopping district that is visited by tens of thousand of pedestrians a week, local officials said.

Eighteenth Avenue was given the honorary name Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard, after Christopher Columbus, by the City Council more than 20 years ago in tribute to the Bensonhurst community’s large Italian-American population. But that population is dwindling, according to results of the 2010 US Census, which showed that Italian-Americans moved out in droves during the past decade and are being replaced by large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe.

The pizzerias that once dominated the landscape of 18th Avenue are being replaced by Chinese restaurants and bakeries.