Al Laboz has accumulated enough land on a Downtown Brooklyn block to build the borough’s largest skyscraper — and may be working on a deal to add to it.
The developer’s firm, United American Land, has pieced together nearly 43,000 square feet across 15 lots sandwiched between Jay, Fulton, Lawrence and Willoughby streets, which would allow for roughly 516,000 square feet of buildable floor area.
Now Laboz is vying for another parcel on the block — 56 Willoughby — according to a source familiar with the effort, although Laboz told The Real Deal he “wasn’t aware” of that. The property would add 1,800 square feet to Laboz’s assemblage and more than 21,000 square feet in buildable space.
The owners of 56 Willoughby, a four-story building with a ground-floor storefront, could not be reached for comment.
Laboz said the assemblage, which sits atop two major subway arteries and is steps away from three others, was “a long term hold.”
He wasn’t kidding: The developer has spent nearly $90 million on it, with purchases dating back to 1996, according to public records.
The block consists of 25 lots, though one of its largest, a 6,000-square-foot plot at 150 Lawrence, was sold in February to another developer who plans a six-story, mixed-use building.
Laboz’s plans to develop or sell the site figure to be affected by the fate of 421a, a major tax abatement for rental projects in New York City. The program expired last year and attempts to replace it have not gained much traction.
In 2012, the Laboz family sold an assemblage of a dozen parcels just two blocks away to AvalonBay Communities for $125 million. The firm in 2015 built an 826-unit residential tower, the largest in the borough at the time.