New York billionaire Wilbur Ross is lending a hand in Invesco Advisers’ $240 million stake in the purchase of the Brooklyn headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, at 25 Columbia Heights, in a deal for the portfolio of six buildings, the New York Post reported.
Ross is open to raising $75 million in co-investment capital, though wrote in a memo to investors that the Invesco Mortgage Recovery Fund “is comfortable investing the full equity amount.” The fund is contributing about 90 percent of the equity, according to the memo cited by the Post.
The Dumbo deal is on pace to be the biggest so far this year in Brooklyn. Invesco is the majority investor, with minority stakes to be held by Jared Kushner’s Kushner Companies and Aby Rosen’s RFR Holdings, the Post said. The parties expect to close the deal, which is already in contract, on Sept. 3.
Kushner and RFR are putting in $167 million in equity, the Post said. French bank Natixis will provide $244 million in financing.
The portfolio totals 1.25 million square feet and includes 90 Sands Street, a 30-story hotel with 505 rooms, as well as five industrial buildings within Brooklyn’s “Tech Triangle.” The industrial buildings will be developed into loft-style office space, sources told the Post. The hotel building will remain occupied until 2017, as previously reported.
Previous reports from the Post had the total for the portfolio at $375 million. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are moving to Warwick, N.Y. [NYP] – Mark Maurer