Jorge Madruga’s Maddd Equities and Eli Weiss’ Joy Construction have closed on their purchase of the Downtown Brooklyn site at 202 Tillary Street for $30 million, according to Weiss.
The Real Deal reported last May that Madruga’s company was in contract to buy the site from owner Warren Diamond. It is currently a 115,000-square-foot warehouse operated by his company American Self Storage.
Maddd Equities and Joy Construction, who frequently partner on affordable housing projects, rezoned the property while it was under contract and plan to continue using it as a self-storage facility until they finalize their plans to convert it into a 235,000-square-foot residential building, according to Weiss. The project will operate under the city’s mandatory inclusionary housing policy, and 25 percent of its units will be permanently affordable.
The companies financed their acquisition with a $30 million loan from Natixis. The property is also addressed as 67 Prince Street and located right next to NYCHA’s Ingersoll Houses. Weiss said the companies are in discussions with NYCHA to acquire air rights for their project.
Representatives from Natixis and NYCHA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Diamond could not immediately be reached.
Neal Sroka of Douglas Elliman brokered both sides of the deal.
Maddd Equities previously filed an application with the Department of City Planning to build a pair of apartment buildings on the site. The first would stand 22 stories tall and span about 160,000 square feet with 178 units, 54 of which would be affordable. The second would stand 19 stories tall and span about 75,000 square feet with 84 units, 25 of which would be affordable.
However, specifics on the project may change moving forward, and Weiss said it could grow to 400,000 square feet if the companies are able to finalize their transaction with NYCHA.
Several new residential towers have arrived in the area by this project in recent years. BFC Partners built the 240-unit Toren rental tower at 150 Myrtle Avenue in 2009, and Lalezarian Properties built a 255-unit rental tower at 309 Gold Street in 2014.