Joe Sitt’s Thor pays $36M for Williamsburg development site

UPDATED, 6:10 p.m., April 17: Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities is in contract to buy a Williamsburg development site for $36.1 million, The Real Deal has learned. The parcel at 180 Bedford Avenue allows for a total of 7,200 buildable square feet, plus another 7,200 square feet of roof and basement space. (Note: Correction appended)

The plot, located at the corner of Bedford Avenue and North 7th Street, is in pricey company. In December, RedSky Capital reportedly paid $20.7 million for a neighboring 1,600-square-foot plot at 184-186 Bedford Avenue. RedSky plans to build an all-retail building at its site, as well as at nearby 204-206 Bedford Avenue.

These deals, pricey even by Manhattan standards, are driven by Williamsburg’s emergence as a center of high-end retail. The site purchased by Thor sits at arguably the busiest intersection in Williamsburg and has over 60 feet of frontage on Bedford Avenue and an additional 60 feet of Frontage On North 7th Street. Zoning permits a building of maximum of 14,400 square feet, meaning the (typically more valuable) retail component takes up a larger share of the building and pushes up the price per buildable square foot. Sitt described Bedford Avenue as a “major shopping and dining hub, with strong demand and limited availability of new, high-quality retail space.”

The plot’s seller is the Salvation Army. It is unclear who brokered the deal.

Long a haven for vintage shops and swanky bars, Williamsburg has recently seen an influx of big-name retailers, driving up rents. In December, Apple announced it had signed a lease for a 20,000-squere-foot Store On Kent Avenue. The electronics firm joined clothier J. Crew in the area.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the buildable square feet at the property. 180 Bedford Avenue has a total of 7,200 buildable square feet, excluding the basement and roof space.