EDC President Seth Pinsky and Federal Building #2
[Updated at 4 p.m. with comments from Salmar’s Martin Schein] The U.S. General Services Administration has completed the sale of Federal Building #2 in the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn to the New York City Economic Development Corporation for $9.1 million, according to public records filed with the city today.
The site of a former navy building was transferred to the EDC before being eventually sold to Salmar Properties on the same date. Salmar will redevelop the 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse building into a state-of-the-art industrial center. The deals both closed Aug. 15. Construction will start on the site in one to two weeks, Salmar executive Martin Schein told The Real Deal.
In May, EDC announced that it had selected Salmar to develop the site which spans Second and Third avenues and 30th and 32nd streets, located in the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone, across from the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Salmar is a joint venture between Marvin Schein’s investment firm Schein Family Partners, Selim Rusi’s S. Rusi Family LLC and an entity of which Schein and Rusi are 50 percent stakeholders. Salmar will have a deed restriction for 30 years, which limits it to industrial use.
“By successfully disposing of this warehouse building GSA is supporting President [Barack] Obama’s mission to achieve fiscal responsibility for our nation and to operate a federal property portfolio that is effective, efficient and saves taxpayer dollars,” GSA Regional Administrator Denise Pease said in a statement about the closing. “With the sale of this building, GSA has not only enabled an underutilized federal property to be removed from the federal inventory, but has also provided a great opportunity for an exciting redevelopment of the building that will help drive an economic engine in the local area.”
The 1916 warehouse building, previously used by the Department of the Navy, was last occupied in 2000. It was not immediately clear who the most recent occupant was. Plans call for the building to become an industrial center in what Mayor Michael Bloomberg has dubbed the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone.
“We… look forward to renovating and improving the site so that we can begin renting to light industrial users,” Marvin Schein told The Real Deal in May. “We believe that such a site will encourage a return of manufacturing to the area and provide much needed jobs.”
Schein was not immediately available for comment on the closing. — Katherine Clarke