Brooklyn Building Sells For $24M

Image courtesy of Trulia.com.

New York—Simon Baron Development has acquired 12 Franklin Street, a 30,500-square-foot commercial building in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 12 Franklin Street Realty Corp. and 8 Meserole LLC, for $24 million.

This marks the company’s first acquisition along the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfront.

“We loved the location,” Matthew Baron, Simon Baron Development’s president, told MHN. “The property is on the Greenpoint waterfront and is sandwiched between all of the residential development to the north (over 7,000 units), and a lot of commercial development to our south.”

12 Franklin St., is located in the approximate 20-block area in between the residential development of Greenpoint to the North and the commercial area of North Williamsburg to the South. The area is home to Northern Territory, a restaurant offering Australian fare; Dirck the Norseman, a German-style brewpub; Scilabs Music, offering scientific-themed rehearsal spaces; and Eastern Metal Supply, distributors of custom and standard aluminum extrusions.

According to Baron, the site presents an ideal opportunity to be among a pocket of retailers, creative offices, restaurants, galleries, hotels and new/old industrial uses, and follows a similar trend that Manhattan’s Meatpacking District neighborhood experienced nearly 20 years ago.

“Simon Baron aims to acquire sites in transitional neighborhoods where we’ve identified there will be a boom. We are then able to benefit from a low basis while the area improves around us,” Baron said. “The property is in the center of what we believe to be a neighborhood changing development; both to the north and south. As those areas develop and converge around us, we believe 12 Franklin will only become more valuable.”

The property is located across the street from the East River and Bushwick Inlet Park, and includes ample access to public transportation, including the G subway line on Nassau Avenue and the Bx32 bus stop located directly across the street from the building.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Brendan Maddigan and Mark Lively represented the seller in the transaction. Simon Baron was represented in-house and HKS Capital arranged the debt financing for the developer.