Rabsky buys Jehovah’s Witnesses building for $65M

Site at 69 Adams Street allows for nearly 160K buildable square feet

69 Adams Street in Dumbo
69 Adams Street in Dumbo

Simon Dushinsky’s Rabsky Group is the mystery buyer behind the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ latest Dumbo deal, paying $65 million for a building near Dumbo Heights.

As part of their plans to relocate upstate to Warwick, N.Y., the Witnesses sold a four-story recreational center at 69 Adams Street to an unnamed buyer, the Brooklyn Eagle reported last month.

Property records filed with the city Thursday reveled the buyer to be Dushinsky, who shelled out $65 million to buy the 41,150-square-foot building. Rabsky also secured a $47.4 million acquisition loan from the San Diego-based BofI Federal Bank.

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The property comes with up to 157,410 buildable square feet. The area zoning allows for a residential tower with commercial space, retail and a community facility as-of-right.

The Witnesses, which owned the building since 1991, are relocating out of Brooklyn after roughly a century headquartered in the borough.

In August, the partnership of Kushner Companies [TRDataCustom], CIM Group and LIVWRK bought the Witnesses’ 733,000-square-foot 25-30 Columbia Heights near the East River for $340 million.

Kushner and LIVWRK had previously partnered with RFR Realty to buy the five-building portfolio they rebranded as Dumbo Heights for $375 million.