A onetime Brooklyn appliance magnate, who pivoted from a career selling ovens and refrigerators to one in real estate development, is looking to erect a 4-story high school in Coney Island, according to documents that appeared in the city register this week.
Under a limited liability company named after the address, Elie Fouerti — whose younger brother, Albert, started their now-defunct Bensonhurst-based company, Appliances Connection, in the early 1990s — is seeking permission from the city to build the classrooms and adjoining community facility at 773 Neptune Ave., records show.
The irregularly shaped development site between West Sixth Street and Shell Road spans two lots — 1 and 50 — the latter of which is vacant and is where the school would go; construction of an 8-story residential building has started on the former. On the rest of the block, there’s an existing 12-story residential building, documents show. An entity controlled by Fouerti owns both lots; he paid $26.2 million for No. 1 in 2021, city records show, but it’s unclear how much he paid for lot 50 in 2022.
The planned 4-story, 30,950-square-foot high school — which likely would be a charter facility — would also contain community space and a school gymnasium. Permits filed with the city several years ago, and as recently as February, indicate plans to build a 1-story residential development and a house of worship on the Neptune Avenue lot. It’s unclear what caused Fouerti to go the schoolhouse route instead. He did not respond to a request for comment, and a representative for Manhattan-based law firm Cozen O’Connor, which is listed on the application, declined to provide more details about Fouerti’s updated plans.
The representative from Cozen O’Connor, who would not provide a name, declined to comment on construction costs for the project but said pending approval from the city this year, completion is slated for 2026.
When Albert Fouerti started Appliances Connection in 1992, he originally sold computers, then switched to digital cameras and flat-screen televisions — a venture his brother joined — before the two of them got into the lucrative oven and fridge business in 2011. By 2016 sales had topped $155 million, according to a 2017 profile of the pair written by Crain’s Matthew Flamm, who died from brain cancer at the start of this year.
A Missouri-based retail company then called Goedeker’s bought Appliances Connection in 2020, with the brothers still holding leadership positions. A year later, however, Goedeker’s changed the name to Polished, and both Fouertis resigned from their positions in 2022, The Real Deal reported at the time.
It’s unclear if Albert is working with his brother on the Coney Island development, although the two have teamed up on certain real estate projects before, including the purchase of a shopping center in Florida, according to The Real Deal.
Elie Fouerti is also working with Coney Island-based firm Rybak Development on the Neptune Avenue project. Rybak did not respond to a request for comment.
Julianne Cuba , 2024-06-14 20:09:39
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