Sugar Hill buys vacant Williamsburg rental building for $37M

Sugar Hill Capital Partners bought a 47-unit apartment building at 385 Union Avenue in Williamsburg from Madison Realty Capital for $37.4 million, The Real Deal has learned.

Madison Realty Capital picked up the six-story elevator property in 2012 for $21.5 million, when it was in foreclosure, Madison Realty co-founder Josh Zegen told TRD.

Three years ago, the Midtown-based firm purchased the 53,000-square-foot building from City National Bank. Zegen added that he was also able to buy the property’s deed from former developers Anshel Friedman and Pincus Freund.

Friedman and Freund initially planned to create condominium units.

Sugar Hill, which is led by David Schwartz, will likely open the now-vacant property on the corner of Union Avenue and Ainslie Street as a rental development.

Rosewood Realty’s Aaron Jungreis and Michael Guttman were the sole brokers on the deal.

A 25-year 421a tax abatement is in place on the property.

“It’s a hot part of the Williamsburg submarket,” Zegen said. The building is located close to the second stop on the L-train. New developments are sprouting up and the neighborhood’s firs Starbucks recently opened.

The new owner might create a retail space on the first floor, Jungreis added. The building also includes a gym, a roof deck with views over Manhattan and floor-to-ceiling windows in the apartments.

Sugar Hill sold two Harlem rentals in May for $36 million, and is developing a condo project in Park Slope.