Abehsera, Lemma’s PWR picks up Crown Heights development site

Developer filed plans in March for 12-story resi project

109 Montgomery Street in Crown Heights (inset: Aaron Lemma and Asher Abehsera)
109 Montgomery Street in Crown Heights (inset: Aaron Lemma and Asher Abehsera)

Asher Abehsera and Aaron Lemma’s PWR realty firm has closed on the purchase of a Crown Heights development site near Prospect Park, The Real Deal has learned.

The Brooklyn-based developer and partner Cornell Realty bought the site at 109-111 Montgomery Street from the nearby Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which owned the vacant lot since 1989.

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Building applications filed in March indicate plans for a 12-story residential building to be designed by architect Karl Fischer. PWR plans to move forward with the plans, which presently call for 172 residential units across 168,000 buildable square feet and 76 parking spaces.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cornell acquired a nearby development site last year, at 902 Franklin Avenue, that later also saw plans filed for 168,000 buildable square feet of residential space. The developer bought that site for $14.5 million, or $86 per buildable square foot.

Abehsera and Lemma’s LIVWRK management firm has worked with Kushner Companies on the Dumbo Heights office complex, a Gowanus development site and a Williamsburg rental building, while PWR leased 43,000 square feet in Gowanus to online annotation company Genius last year.