Developer raises money with W’burg warehouse conversion

In an effort to raise cash for construction of a residential complex where a lumber warehouse currently stands in Williamsburg, developer Isack Rosenberg will convert the warehouse into lofts and rent them out. According to the Brooklyn Paper, Rosenberg will pay $3.1 million to convert the top two floors of the warehouse, at 490 Kent Avenue, into 30 units, while he awaits financing for a proposed 754-unit, three-tower complex that is projected to cost $400 million. He will offer month-to-month, market-rate leases as a stopgap measure to generate revenue for the project, which has shown no progress since being approved in March 2010. Though locals complain that the lumber warehouse smells “oily and acrid,” Rosenberg believes he’ll be able to attract artists and Orthodox Jews to the Williamsburg location. Rosenberg also developed Warehouse 11 in the neighborhood, a 120-unit luxury condominium that endured financial difficulties last year. [Brooklyn Paper]