Real Estate Downtown

Brooklyn Law School finds a buyer for six B’klyn Heights buildings – and it’s the Kushner Cos.

February 23, 2014 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Brooklyn Law School finally nailed down a buyer for a half-dozen Brooklyn Heights buildings that provide student housing, which have been up for sale since last summer, the Brooklyn Eagle confirmed Friday.

The purchaser? The Kushner Cos., which made an eye-popping entry into Brooklyn last year with the $375 million purchase of a portfolio of highly coveted Watchtower buildings in DUMBO.

The Real Deal was first to report Kushner’s deal for the Heights buildings – and a source told the Eagle late Friday that the firm that has committed to the purchase is indeed the Manhattan-based real estate company headed by Jared Kushner, who is Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

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The purchase price is $36.5 million, The Real Deal reported.

“Today, Brooklyn Law School executed a contract and accepted a deposit for the sale of six of our smaller properties,” Nick Allard, Joseph Crea Dean and Professor of Law at BLS, told the Eagle in a statement.

“The Board of Trustees authorized the sale because with a smaller student body we need fewer apartments to meet the housing needs of our students.”

The building addresses are 89 Hicks St., 18 Sidney Place, 144 Willow St., 100 Pierrepont St., 27 Monroe Place and 38 Monroe Place.

The original asking price for the six-building package was $41.15 million, according to a marketing flyer from Massey Knakal Realty Services, the sale broker.

Two of the buildings are elevatored apartment houses, and the other four are five-story multi-family buildings, the flyer said. The buildings, with a total of 110 residential units, are vacant or largely so.

An interesting aside about one of the buildings, 89 Hicks St.: The law school had purchased it from the Watchtower in 2006 for $14 million, city Department of Finance records indicate.

“The sale of these residence halls takes place at an opportune time in the real estate market,” Allard said. “It made good practical sense to monetize these assets.”

The law school will continue to guarantee housing to all incoming students who apply by May 1, he added.

The school provides housing to more than one-third of its students in three properties: Feil Hall, 2 Pierrepont St. and 148-150 Clinton St.

“The property sale is one of a number of sound, prudent steps taken by the Law School to continue to provide our students with the best educational experience possible,” Allard said.

A spokesman for Kushner, Josh Raffel, declined to comment.

Massey Knakal broker Stephen Palmese said in an email, “The property has not been sold” – but that was before the Eagle heard from the law school dean. Palmese did not respond to further queries by deadline.

 


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