Leser Group pays $12.8 million for Ocean Hill development site

Eye on Real Estate

February 14, 2018 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Here's a glimpse of recently sold development site 1508 Herkimer St. in Ocean Hill. Eagle photo by Lore Croghan

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Ka-ching!

A developer paid $12.8 million for an Ocean Hill Development site at 1508 Herkimer St. and will construct an office building there, Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates (KDA) announced.

KDA’s Allison Chambers repped the buyer in the deal. KDA’s Robert Klein represented the seller.

The real estate brokerage, which focuses on commercial and industrial property, was founded in 1904.

The firm’s announcement identified the deal-makers by their LLC names.

According to city Finance Department records, 1508 Herkimer LLC, the buyer, has Abraham Leser as its managing member. He heads the Leser Group, a real estate development and property management firm.

Finance Department records indicate that the seller, Van Herk Realty Corp., has Richard Carmel as its president.

The sale closed in January.

The 20,000-square-foot site is on the corner of Herkimer Street and Van Sinderen Avenue.

According to Neil Dolgin, KDA co-president, the buyer of 1508 Herkimer St. plans to construct a four-story office building on the site. The offices will be put to “some sort of administrative use” by a city agency, Dolgin said.

That agency is a tenant of a building across the street from 1508 Herkimer St. that also belongs to 1508 Herkimer St.’s buyer, Dolgin said.

We checked Finance Department records, and found that an LLC with Abraham Leser as manager purchased 1495 Herkimer St. for $33 million in 2015.

The city Department of Education is a major tenant at 1495 Herkimer St. Aspirations Diploma Plus High School is housed in that building.

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia about the development site at 1508 Herkimer St.: In November 2012 the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals set up a temporary shelter there for pets whose owners were impacted by Superstorm Sandy.

A $500,000 grant from TV chef Rachael Ray paid for the emergency shelter.