Slate lends Rabsky $72M for Fort Greene multifamily project

Dushinsky-led firm planning 30-story, 300-unit apartment building

Rendering of 240 Willoughby Street and Martin Nussbaum, co-founder and principal of Slate Property Group (Slate)
Rendering of 240 Willoughby Street and Martin Nussbaum, co-founder and principal of Slate Property Group (Slate)

Rabsky Group is ready to roll at 240 Willoughby Street.

The secretive developer led by Simon Dushinsky secured a $72 million construction loan from SCALE, the lending arm of Slate Property Group.

Rabsky will use the money to construct a 30-story, 300-unit multifamily building near Fort Greene Park. It also plans to renovate an existing 21-story apartment project with 189 units.

SPR Group arranged the financing.

Thanks to the 421a tax exemption, the building will include 147 affordable units. The property sits a short walk from the park, subway and Atlantic Terminal Mall.

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Property records show Rabsky bought the plot for $95 million in 2019 from the Brooklyn Hospital Center, which still controls several neighboring buildings. Rabsky sold the ground lease in December to Dallas-based investor Montgomery Street Partners for $75 million, but simultaneously signed a 99-year lease on the property.

Rabsky has the option to acquire development rights that would allow it to build up to 331,000 square feet.

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Martin Nussbaum, co-founder and principal of Slate Property, said the deal required navigating a “complex loan structure, including multiple buildings, a ground lease, and more.” SCALE has closed roughly $1.25 billion in loans in the last year, the firm said in a statement.

Rabsky has its hands full in Downtown Brooklyn, where it just landed $450 million from Madison Realty Capital for a pair of towers with more than 1,000 units.