Jacob Kohn Building More Multifamily in Downtown Brooklyn

Brooklyn developer Jacob Kohn has been scheming up another multifamily development in Downtown Brooklyn, this time a 500-unit project directly across from a site he’s just completed on Fleet Place.

Kohn’s property management company, The Jay Group, dropped $75 million to buy six lots from Pearl Realty Management for the future development at 102-110 Fleet Place, 165 Willoughby and 275 Flatbush Extension, plus the neighboring air rights, according to property records made public Friday.

Spokespeople for Jay Group and Pearl Realty did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

G4 Capital Partners provided a $55 million loan for the acquisition, which Jason Behfarin, co-managing partner at G4, described as a 12-month bridge loan ahead of more construction financing the firms will finalize later this year.

Jay Group will use that money to develop a 492,000-square-foot residential building with about 500 apartments spanning the entire site, according to a spokesperson for Galaxy Capital, whose Henry Bodek arranged the financing.

A limited liability company tied to Pearl Realty Management acquired the lots on Fleet Place in 1997, and snapped up the two sites around the corner over the following decade, according to property records. 

The former owner kept a 10,625-square foot parking lot on the Fleet Place portion of the site and a single-story commercial building at the corner of Willoughby Street and Flatbush Avenue Extension. 

Now, Jay Group plans to take those down for its new project, and it’s already gotten to know the neighborhood.

The developer bought a lot across the street for $42.8 million in 2021, with G4 providing a $130 million loan to finance a 21-story residential tower on the site. That project, at 101 Fleet Place, is now complete, and Jay Group scored a $160 million refinancing package for the 294-unit building earlier this year, as CO previously reported. 

“We’ve seen 101 Fleet start to lease up, so it gave us the confidence to finance this project,” Behfarin said. “Our goal is to continue that success here.” 

Behfarin added that Kohn might apply for New York’s new 485x tax abatement program to fund the new project, but that decision will come later this year.

Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.