The Small Fry?

Corners are the development plums, but even a smaller, mid-block parcel can yield a boutique condo or rental opportunity, and big or small, lots around here quickly accrue value.  Small apartment buildings & retail businesses fall victim:  the walk-up three family, the beauty salon, the deli or the auto shop. Last week I posted on the flip of the eight-building parcel at Fourth & 15th, and today I note two smaller examples of the buy & flip model.  645 Fourth, currently home to a Meineke shop & its metal auto family, was sold last fall for $2M, and is now back on the market for $3.5. Meineke's lease expires in 2017, but a buy-out clause allows for a vacancy within sixty days.

The subject property is currently configured as a single story retail / warehouse building. The property stands on a 26.75 X 100 foot lot. Given the C2-4/R8A/EC-1 it features a total of 14,445 buildable square feet as-of-right and 19,260 buildable square feet with inclusionary housing for the development of apartments or condominiums over retail.
... This is a phenomenal opportunity for a developer to acquire a mid-size site on a high traffic retail corridor and to capitalize on the area's ongoing growth in rents and property values.

In 2012 it was just the parents plus kid & dog.  The family's grown since then.

An avenue over, on Fifth, 732 Fifth, formerly occupied by another auto shop, sold a year ago for a million.  It's back up for sale again.  Same listing wording, different price.  $2.295 M.

732 5th Avenue features 25' of frontage on 5th Avenue. 
This site is zoned R6A with a 3.0 FAR. Under the current zoning a developer could build approximately 7,500 square feet as-of-right. There is an Inclusionary Housing bonus which would allow additional square footage. There is an existing 2,500 SF industrial building on the property that will be delivered vacant. 
The property is located along in the highly desirable Park Slope South neighborhood, with many new construction projects in the development pipeline... 

2014 

With a couple of recent Fourth developments plans filed with the provision of inclusionary housing, it'll be interesting to see if the trend continues at these two sites.  This model is certainly better than the all-market-rate buildings that have risen round here so far, but it's still no meaningful answer to the housing crunch for working and middle class residents.  How can a modest number of "affordable" units in luxury buildings make up for the subsequent small-scale housing & business displacement, rise in nearby retail & residential rents, & erosion of a community's culture?  We need bigger and better solutions.