NEW YORK CITY — Locally based investment and development firm RFR has sold a 139,865-square-foot multifamily development site in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn for $160 million. The buyer was a partnership between two locally based firms, Tavros Capital and Charney Cos.
RFR acquired the three-acre site at 175 Third St. for $115 million in 2018, more than three years before the city’s rezoning of the neighborhood to allow for more multifamily development. RFR subsequently collaborated with Bjarke Ingels Group on design schemes and worked over several years to secure an extension of the 421a tax abatement. Additionally during its holding period, RFR vacated the site, obtained excavation and foundation work permits, managed an environmental remediation program and qualified the site for tax incentives such as the Brownfield Credit Program. Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group advised RFR, which sold the site as a fully entitled development opportunity, on the transaction.
The new ownership has secured two acquisition/pre-development loans totaling $145 million in connection with the purchase of the site. Silver Point Capital provided $110 million as the senior lender and Brodsky/global alternative asset manager Tikehau Capital provided $35 million as the mezzanine lender. The partnership has also released development plans for the site, which call for 1 million square feet of space across roughly 1,000 units. The new building at 175 Third St. will be the fourth within the partnership’s Gowanus Wharf development.