Jacob Toll to help bring stalled Williamsburg condo back as a rental

Another stalled Williamsburg condominium development is getting a second chance as a rental project with help from the developers of 44 Berry Street and Robert Toll’s son, Jacob. The site, at 76 North 4th Street, is known as Steelworks Lofts, named after the former Lewis Steel Products factory that is located there. According to Crain’s, developer Cayuga Capital Management and Jacob Toll acquired the note and the deed for the property that Fifth Square Partners originally planned to convert to an 88-unit upscale condominium. Fifth Square acquired it for $26.5 million in 2007 with the help of Anglo Irish Bank and several private investors but was ultimately unable to pre-sell enough units to obtain construction financing under the terms of the deal. The new owners will convert the 130,000-square-foot building to rental apartments instead, with retail on the ground floor, said Jamie Wiseman, co-principal of Cayuga. The deal follows a similar change in plans for a stalled condominium development on nearby Union Avenue, which recently sold to a developer planning to build 92 rental apartments at the site. [Crain’s]