Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has sold off the last of its big holdings in Williamsburg — a vacant development site on Wallabout Street — for $12.75 million, according to public records filed yesterday with the city.
The land, which comprises two sites on four acres on Wallabout Street and Harrison Avenue, traded to an LLC named Harrison Realty and will likely be developed to include both residential and commercial uses, said Steven Barshov, a principal at the law firm of Sive, Paget & Riesel, who represented the buyer in the deal. Cushman & Wakefield marketed the property on behalf of the drug company.
“This is one of the largest parcels in that area that is vacant,” Barshov said. The property has been vacant since Pfizer closed a plant there in 2008.
Barshov said the deal for the property had been simple. “Pfizer historically put their properties on the market with a just description and a contract of sale drafted by their counsel. It’s not really very negotiable.”
The investment group, which lists its address as the headquarters of Rabsky Management in Flushing, beat out a community coalition that had sought to buy the property last year. The coalition reportedly offered $10 million to buy the property, on which it hoped to build affordable apartments. A spokesperson for Rabsky was not immediately available.
No plans for the property have been officially decided, Barshov said, though a zoning change will likely be needed in order to build on the land, which is currently zoned for industrial use. Meanwhile, the seller needed to “catch their breath” after shelling out the “millions of dollars” required to buy the building, he said. According to previous reports, the site could support as many as 840 apartments.
A Pfizer spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
As The Real Deal previously reported, the thirst for Brooklyn land is at an all time high. The sale of a nearby stalled site at 242 Bedford Avenue, where a Whole Foods will soon be opening, recently traded for $21 million, or around $222 per buildable square foot.