RAL, Oliver’s close on lease deal for Pier 6 land

UPDATED, July 20, 10:03 p.m.: RAL Development Services and Oliver’s Realty Group closed on a deal to lease the land for their controversial Brooklyn Bridge Park residential development Pier 6 for 93 years. 

The partners will pay around $110 million up-front for the lease, as well as annual lease payments, to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, a public entity jointly controlled by the city and the state. They plan to build two properties on the site: a 28-story, 160-unit condo building and a 14-story, 140-unit rental building.

More than two-thirds of the rental units will be set aside as affordable, the Commercial Observer reported.

The project, which some neighborhood activists oppose, has had a turbulent few months. In early June, the state’s Economic Development Corporation briefly pulled its support for the project, citing a $10,000 donation from developer RAL to Mayor Bill de Blasio. It then changed its mind and approved the project on June 7.

Earlier this month, the neighborhood group Brooklyn Heights Association sued to block the project, alleging the city broke bidding rules by awarding the site to RAL and Oliver’s even though neither was registered in a database of companies doing business with the city. [CO] – Konrad Putzier

Correction: an earlier version of this point incorrectly claimed that the developers will pay $110 million in rent over the course of the lease.