Basketball icon Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr.’s development at 110 Green Street in Brooklyn is preparing to open its doors to potential buyers this summer, but brokers don’t know what to expect in terms of sales success for the much buzzed-about building.
The six-story Greenpoint condo, recently dubbed the Viridian, was conceived more than a year ago in a bull market. It is also something of a pioneer: It’s the first amenity-laden luxury building to sprout up in this quiet, fringe neighborhood of low-rise residential and industrial buildings.
But while the building will offer an indoor pool, putting green, 67 on-site parking spots and a fitness center, it is connected to the city’s subway grid by only the G train, which doesn’t go into Manhattan and is known for its spotty service. In addition, its one- and two-bedroom apartments aim to attract professionals who have been priced out of Williamsburg, an increasingly trendy neighborhood dealing with its own glut of new luxury apartments in a softening market.
“It’s tough to make a prediction” on how the building’s 130 apartments will sell, said Herbert Kliegerman, president of North Brooklyn Realty Corp.
“It still remains to be seen,” Kliegerman added. “Greenpoint is not Williamsburg. The G train is not the L train. It’s sort of iffy.”
He expects the apartments to sell for about $700 per square foot, but said it was difficult to say for sure.
According to a source with knowledge of the project, one bedrooms will range from 675 to 750 square feet and will be listed for about $500,000. The firm is aiming to sell two bedrooms, which will range from 950 to 1,050 square feet, for $640,000 to $690,000.
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The project has been delayed by a few months, and the pre-marketing efforts won’t start until late June, according to Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, which includes the basketball star as a partner. The fund put up $12.4 million of mezzanine funding for the project, and the Bank of New York kicked in a $41 million senior loan.
The developers intended to start pre-selling units last summer and open the building to residents by this June. Now, tenants are likely to start moving in by September at the earliest, but probably closer to October or November.
Christine Blackburn, a Prudential Douglas Elliman team leader who oversees many North Brooklyn properties, expects it to take about a year to sell out the building entirely, longer than before the real estate market slowed. In addition, she said the development would probably have to offer prices that are about $100 to $150 lower per square foot than properties in Williamsburg, where apartments generally sell from $750 per square foot to $850 per square foot, going up to $1,000 per square foot for waterfront properties. But if the developers negotiate, “I think it’s still going to sell well,” she said.
One recent evening, the noise of construction workers wrapping up their day contrasted with the chirping birds and an absence of cars driving down Green Street. Almost half the building had windows in place, while the other half was a concrete shell.
So far, the rising structure has attracted attention from local residents — and speculation among brokers as to how much interest the development will drum up among buyers. To help aid sales, the Developers Group is currently negotiating with two different banks, which the firm would not identify, on a financing plan for prospective buyers with solid credit. If all goes according to expectations, the firm will be able to hook buyers up with mortgages with 90 percent loan-to-value ratios — which may be able to help them land hesitant prospects.
The project is not the only development in Brooklyn being bankrolled by the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund. Others include 145 Park Place and One Hanson Place; those condos are in addition to the movie theaters, Starbucks, fitness centers and chain restaurants independently backed by Magic Johnson in urban communities throughout the country, including in Harlem and Brooklyn.
As for 110 Green Street, Kliegerman said he normally has a good handle on how properties will fare. But he added, “In my 45 years of experience, I’ve never seen a market like this, because the financing has gone away.”
Since the credit markets froze up last August, it has been harder to get mortgages — especially ones with decent interest rates. Kliegerman said the Greenpoint development’s success could rest on what type of financing the marketers arrange for potential buyers.
Even though Greenpoint has yet to catch the development fever of some of Brooklyn’s trendier areas, some people prefer the quieter pace and its more spacious apartments, Blackburn noted.
“You have another type of buyer who needs the space,” she said. “Greenpoint is a great neighborhood with a lot of families.”