RedSky zeroing in on DoBro site with 330K sf

UPDATED, Sept. 4, 11:40 a.m.: After more than two years of dealmaking, RedSky Capital is one transaction away from assembling a nine-building Downtown Brooklyn development site offering 330,000 buildable square feet.

The Dumbo-based investment firm’s latest purchase was a three-story, mixed-use building at 585-587 Fulton Street for $13 million, according to property records.

Of nine contiguous, low-rise properties on a triangular strip along Fulton Street between DeKalb and Flatbush avenues, RedSky now owns all but one. The firm started assembling the parcels in November 2012, and to date has shelled out $63 million for parcels that collectively boast about 280,000 buildable square feet. The triangular strips also contains six other buildings not owned by RedSky.

The one remaining building is a four-story structure at 571 Fulton Street with more than 50,000 buildable square feet. If RedSky were to acquire the property, currently owned by private Greenpoint-based investor Jackson Ma, the assemblage would include 565-591 Fulton Street and 396 Flatbush Avenue Extension.

All of the properties contain a retail component. Some retail rents along the nearby Fulton Street Mall, for example, exceed $200 per square foot.

RedSky, led by Ben Bernstein and Ben Stokes, secured a $2.6 million mortgage for the eight buildings last month.

Representatives for RedSky could not be immediately reached for comment.

There are no plans filed with the Department of Buildings. However, in December, Levy Real Estate’s Jennifer Markowitz, former owner of 579 Fulton Street, filed plans to demolish floors three through five of the building.

Over in Park Slope, RedSky and partner Megalith Capital Management sold two rental buildings for $37 million, or $811 per square foot, earlier this month, as TRD reported. RedSky is also making a big bet on Williamsburg retail, developing two pure-play retail properties on Bedford Avenue.