Rockrose closes $81M all-cash Brooklyn buy

Elghanyan family firm to develop rental building on the border of Fort Greene and DoBro

Rockrose Development Justin Elghanayan and 98 DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn (Credit: Google Maps)
Rockrose Development Justin Elghanayan and 98 DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn (Credit: Google Maps)

Rockrose Development paid $81 million in cash to buy a development site in Brooklyn on the border of Fort Greene and DoBro.

Rockrose Development closed on the purchase of a development site in Brooklyn for $81 million, all cash.

The Elghanyan family firm bought the property at 98 DeKalb Avenue, and air rights from an adjacent property, sources told The Real Deal. The plan is to build a rental complex.

With both transactions, the development site has 380,000 square feet of buildable space.

A representative for Rockrose declined to comment.

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The seller of 98 Dekalb, the Kotler family, was represented by a JLL team led by Bob Knakal and Stephen Palmese.

The deal is the first major development in Brooklyn for Rockrose, which focuses mainly on large scale projects in Manhattan and Long Island City. The company went into contract on the site last summer.

The property is eligible for Affordable New York, the state’s tax abatement program that replaced 421a, as well as tax breaks under the Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program. A new building would join similar projects that have sprouted up in Downtown Brooklyn in recent years such as the Gotham Organization’s 53-story rental building at 250 Ashland Place and the various buildings at City Point.

Contact Rich Bockmann at rb@therealdeal.com or 908-415-5229.