JV Secures $137M Financing for Brooklyn Project
SCALE Lending provided the loan for this ground-up Williamsburg development.
A joint venture has landed a $137 million loan for its partially-affordable housing project in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. SCALE Lending, an affiliate of Slate Property Group, provided the loan to the joint venture of Loketch Group, Joyland Group and Meral Property Group.
The financing will be used for the acquisition and the construction of 555 Broadway, a ground-up development that can accommodate a 330,000-square-foot building. The joint venture is planning to develop a community with approximately 300 units, with roughly 30 percent of the units reserved as affordable housing.
Martin Nussbaum, co-founder & principal of Slate Property Group, said in prepared remarks that SCALE Lending had to quickly close on the loan so that the borrower could move quickly on the acquisition of 555 Broadway. The joint venture acquired the site for $54 million from The Collective, a co-living firm based in London who was looking to sell the site to avoid foreclosure, according to The Real Deal.
The site was originally meant to be developed into a 500-unit apartment building by the co-living firm, but the plans were later abandoned and the property was facing a foreclosure auction next month, The Real Deal reported. The new ownership is now expecting to start construction soon on a traditional multifamily property in its place.
BROOKLYN CONSTRUCTION STAYING BUSY
Loketch Group has worked on several types of residential projects in various Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Crown Heights, Bushwick and Clinton Hill. The developer’s portfolio also stretches across the Hudson River, where Loketch Group built a 183-unit condo tower in East Orange, N.J. Loketch Group previously worked with Meral Property Group on the redevelopment of a warehouse into a condo and a ground-up construction in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood.
SCALE Lending has also been active with Brooklyn construction projects. The loan for 555 Broadway comes a day after SCALE Lending announced that it provided $55 million in construction financing for another partially-affordable project in Brooklyn.