Bushwack Capital Crowdfunding $1M for Bushwick Beer Garden, Winery
By Liam La Guerre August 28, 2015 4:36 pm
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CityFunders, a real estate crowdfunding platform, is offering investors the chance to help fund a development that will feature a beer garden, winery and event hall in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn, the firm announced.
Landlord Bushwack Capital, which is seeking to borrow a total of $1 million from crowdfunding contributors, plans to convert the 22,000-square-foot warehouse at 99 Scott Avenue between Meserole and Randolph Streets into a mixed-use retail and office space building. CityFunders claims this will be Bushwick’s first crowdfunded property.
Bushwack Capital purchased the two-story building at the site in December 2014 for $8.3 million, according to city records, in part using a $6.8 million loan from SKW Scott, which is part of CityFunders. The crowdfunding money is slated to be used to repay some of the debt, while opening real estate investing to the public.
“Crowdfunding represents a modern way to raise money,” Dawson Stellberger, a managing partner of Bushwack Capital, said in prepared remarks.
The minimum investment amount is $5,000 and it comes with a 10 percent annual return that will be paid monthly. Payments will begin a month immediately after investing. So far five investors have given a total of about $100,000 to the project. CityFunders will keep it open to investors for about three months.
Besides a winery, beer garden and event hall, the owner is hoping to add a restaurant and two office tenants. The site also has a 30,000-square-foot parking lot, which will be partially leased to the event hall tenant and also to a parking operator. The parking lot is currently being leased to The Brooklyn Mirage, which hosts events and concerts there. It was not immediately clear if the The Brooklyn Mirage would be the event venue for the project in the future.
Bushwack Capital filed plans to transform the building from manufacturing use to an eating and drinking establishment with the city’s Department of Buildings on Aug. 12. The conversion is expected to be complete in October and the tenants will build out and move into their spaces by mid-2016.
The property at 99 Scott Avenue is located just four blocks from the Jefferson Street L train station. It is also nearby the Troutman Street commercial corridor between Wyckoff and Saint Nicholas Avenues and the street art gallery, The Bushwick Collective.
“Investors in 99 Scott Avenue will gain access to one of the hottest areas of Brooklyn as well as the ideal property to capitalize on the neighborhood’s growth,” said CityFunders’ Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder David Behin.
