16 Monmouth Street. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Igor Kapelnikov has struck gold in downtown Red Bank again.
The Manalapan commercial real estate broker who last year notched a whopping 114-percent gain on his two-year investment in 14-16 Broad, home to Bistro at Red Bank, has flipped another building two blocks away for a sum far heftier than what he paid.
The doorway of 16 Monmouth Street. The Monmouth Academy of Ballet moved to a location on Broad Street last year. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
In July, Kapelnikov’s company, VIPP 14-16 Broad LLC, sold the building at 16 Monmouth Street for $2,163,000. That’s about 70 percent more than he paid for it 18 months earlier. The building houses the eatery Cé La Vi on the ground floor. It previously housed the Monmouth Academy of Ballet upstairs, but the academy moved to 141 Broad Street last November.
Kapelnikov purchased it in March 2023 from the estate of MaryAnn Brown for $1.2 million, county property records show. He then received approvals from the borough to create two apartments on the top floors before putting it back up for sale, he told redbankgreen.
“I sold it with approvals and that’s how it worked,” he said.
“I’m two out of two now,” he said of his success buying and selling downtown real estate over the past few years. “But it’s very hard to find deals.”
The buyer of 16 Monmouth is D&H Development-16 Monmouth St. LLC, whose registered agent is listed on state business filings as Daniel Mladenovic, with a business address in Wayne.
Geoff Brothers, of Brothers Commercial Brokerage who was not involved in the sale, said commercial real estate in downtown Red Bank remains hot among investors.
“It’s still an investor driven market,” Brothers said. “Most of the buyers are investors. They believe there’s upside to the downtown.”
The sale of 16 Monmouth Street is not the only potentially lucrative flip in motion downtown. The owner of 21-23 Broad Street is selling that building, hoping for a $1.2 million sale over what he paid for the building less than a year ago. He too, received approvals from the borough he hopes will drive up his eventual return. In that case, the Planning Board gave the okay for a two-story restaurant in the building, which has been vacant for more than a decade.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
