Rivington Company Acquires 185 Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn for $29M

Rivington Company has acquired 185 Marcy Avenue, an 81,348-square-foot partially vacant office building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for $28.7 million, Commercial Observer has learned. 

The developer acquired the six-story building, which was built in 1905 and originally used as a YMCA rooming house, from seller One William Street Capital Management. Rivington plans to convert the top three floors into residential space, according to marketing material seen by CO. 

JLL (JLL)’s Ethan Stanton, Brendan Maddigan and Michael Mazzara handled the transaction, marketing materials show. JLL declined to comment. Both Rivington and One William Street did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

185 Marcy Avenue sits at the corner of Marcy Avenue and South NInth Street, next to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The property, which is anchored by The Learning Experience, was formerly owned by Acuity Capital Partners, which acquired the building from its longtime owners for $30 million in 2017, The Real Deal reported. Cantor Commercial originated a $36 million loan on the property in 2018 and immediately assigned it to One William Street, according to PincusCo. 

One William Street sold the loan to limited liability company 185M Holdings, which shares the same address as One William Street, in April 2022 and foreclosed on it the next day. 185M Holdings eventually took over the property in 2023, property records show.

And the Marcy Avenue development isn’t the only residential project Rivington Company has in the works in North Brooklyn. The developer has been working since 2015 to redevelop the historic William Ulmer Brewery in Bushwick, eventually settling on a residential project that broke ground in December.

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.