Abe Leser is shifting from reviving a hospital deal to ramping up activity for a commercial development that will be used by the city.
The Leser Group landed a $201.9 million construction loan for its development at 2440 Fulton Street in Brooklyn’s Ocean Hill neighborhood, PincusCo reported. UMB Bank provided two construction loans and totaling $166 million an addition $35 million refinance loan for the project, alternatively addressed at 1495 Herkimer Street.
Leser previously received a loan for the project from Metropolitan Commercial Bank for $33.6 million. That figure essentially matches the $33 million Leser spent to acquire the commercial building from Aryeh Good of Fulton Center LLC in 2015.
Leser filed plans in 2020 for a 325,000-square-foot commercial building, set to stand six stories and 100 feet tall. The existing building is 110,000 square feet, but has 215,000 square feet of additional air rights.
Leser won’t have to worry too much about finding tenants for the building. In April, the city announced that more than 1,100 employees from DSS’ Human Resources Administration would relocate to the building. The agency will take up more than 200,000 square feet.
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There will be an additional 100,000 square feet for other office tenants, as well as retail tenants.
Leser couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The loan was recorded in public records last week, but the deal actually closed at the beginning of June, marking the start of a busy month for Leser. The month also brought the end of a saga involving a nine-figure deal for a Brooklyn medical facility that appeared to be on life support.
Nursing home operator Allure Group purchased the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Bay Ridge from Leser for $160 million, aided by a loan from Webster Bank. The deal appeared to be in trouble because of a dispute between Leser and intermediary buyer Pearl Schwartz, who flipped the contract to Allure for a $7 million gain.
“It’s done and I got what I wanted,” Leser said after the dispute was resolved.
[PincusCo] — Holden Walter-Warner