Brooklyn-based developer Bawabeh Realty Holdings sold a 428,550-square-foot vacant parcel near the Gateway Center for $40 million after scrapping plans to build a big-box retail complex, The Real Deal has learned.
Bawabeh acquired the site at 830 Fountain Avenue, also known 12600 Flatlands Avenue, in East New York for just $15.6 million in 2004.
The buyers, Midtown-based Parkwill Management Corp. and North Carolina-based SunCap Property Group, plan to develop a FedEx distribution facility there, TerraCRG founder Ofer Cohen told The Real Deal.
Last month, Parkwill took out a $44.5 million mortgage from PNC Bank, property records show. Parkwill is affiliated with Richard Zirinsky Associates, founded by the veteran namesake developer who died in 2002.
Cohen represented the seller, while James Rougan of Cushman & Wakefield represented the buyers. The site was marketed without a formal asking price, Cohen said. Parkwill and Bawabeh declined to comment. SunCap could not be immediately reached.
“The sellers decided to sell because the site no longer met their investment criteria,” Cohen told The Real Deal.
The city had approved Bawabeh’s building permits for a retail center, but waited for the nearby Gateway Center to complete its expansion project, a source told The Real Deal. The developer abandoned plans after receiving an offer for the site, a source said.
Adam Pincus contributed to this report.