What's in a Name?

Some of us (well me, actually) have spent the last few months wondering what's going on at 657 - 665 Fifth Avenue - the old Frost furniture warehouse buildings - which CS Management was in the process of converting to upscale mixed-use retail/residential.  At the time of the $8.5 million sale, in late 2013, CPEX managing director Sean Kelly called the development a "game changer" for the neighborhood. Work began on the conversion, but by March '15 a partial SWO was in effect, with violations issued for illegal gas work, & sprinkler issues.  The SWO & violations remain open, and I have observed no work at the site in the last year, apart from some portable toilet action. Follow the links back from here.

If we look at the owner names given on the DOB permits for the above address, we get variations on Chaskel & Moses Strulovitch, all listed with the same Nostrand Avenue address.

Cheskel Strulowitz
Business name: 657-665 5TH AVE LLC Business Phone: 347-461-0965
Business Address: 116 Nostrand Ave Brooklyn NY 11205
E-Mail: MOSESSTRULOVITCH@GMAIL.COM  Owner type: Partnership

Chaskel Strulovitch
Business name: 657-665 5TH AVE LLC
Business Phone:718-599-8300
Business Address: 116 Nostrand Ave Brooklyn NY 11205
E-Mail: CS@CSREALESTATE.COM

Chaskiel Strulovitch
Business name: 657-665 5TH AVE LLC Business Phone: 347-461-0965
Business Address: 116 Nostrand Ave Brooklyn NY 11205
E-Mail: MOSESSTRULOVITCH@GMAIL.COM  Owner type: Partnership

Moses Strulovitch
General Contractor - Registered: GC 600439
Business: CS Construction Group LLC, 116 Nostrand Avenue Brooklyn NY 11215
Phone: 718-599-8300

On an earlier reading of just one of the names, Chaskiel Strulovitch, I had assumed this was the "pioneering" Williamsburg developer of the same name, but the other versions of the name & the Nostrand address lead us to two developers whose connection to this Strulovitch is not readily apparent, apart from a shared Williamsburg background.  According to DOB records, the developers of 657-665 Fifth are involved in a number of other property developments in the city. Some of them are listed below.

1266 Willoughby Street (Brooklyn)
599 Willoughby Avenue (Brooklyn) Partial Vacate
940 First Avenue (Manhattan)
1432-1438 Fulton Street (Brooklyn) Building collapse (July,'15)
293 Herkimer Street (Brooklyn)
420 Tompkins Avenue (Brooklyn) Partial SWO

A Gothamist article from the time of the Fulton Street collapse states that Moses Strulowitz was a brother-in-law of the murdered landlord Menachem Stark, who died in 2014.  Stark's own business dealings were controversial, to say the least.

Of course these details still don't tell us just what's going on at 657-665 Fifth, but they do suggest a slightly murky real estate pedigree.

Further reading:

DoB's epic bureaucratic blunder led to discovery that Menachem Stark former building is "dangerous" (The Real Deal)