G4 Capital Takes Over Site of Williamsburg Trader Joe’s for $65M

The site of a Trader Joe’s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has been handed over to its lender for $65 million following a planned foreclosure auction, according to city records made public Thursday.

Isaac Hager’s Cornell Realty Management and local developer Yitzchak Tessler, using the entity 206 Kent, handed off the five-story office and retail building at 206 Kent Avenue — also known as 200-206 Kent Avenue — to New York-based investment firm and previous lender G4 Capital Partners, which used the entity 200 Kent, records show.

Tessler himself signed the deal for the seller, while Jason Behfarin, a co-founder and co-managing partner at G4 Capital, signed for the buyer, according to records.

A spokesperson for G4 Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Tessler could not be reached for comment. 

Developed by Cornell Realty and LIVWRK in 2020, the building between Metropolitan Avenue and North Third Street includes office space on the upper floors and a TJ’s in the ground-floor and basement retail space.

The property previously traded for $33 million in August 2016 to Cornell Realty, before Tessler partnered with Hager and acquired control of the building in 2020 for an undisclosed amount, records show.

G4 Capital was previously a lender on the property, providing Hager and Tessler with $84.25 million in financing for the project in 2020, The Real Deal reported at the time. When ownership defaulted on the loan, G4 Capital initiated UCC foreclosure proceedings to seize the property in 2023, claiming the debt had grown to $140.5 million, according to TRD.

Greg Corbin, president and founder of Northgate Real Estate Group, was leading the marketing for the UCC foreclosure at the time. Corbin could not be reached for comment.

News of the building changing hands to G4 Capital comes after Cornell Realty submitted a zoning application in October 2025 to partially convert and expand the existing 200-206 Kent Avenue into a 14-story residential and retail building with up to 143 apartments. (But don’t worry, TJ’s shoppers. The beloved grocery store wasn’t planned to go anywhere.)

It’s unclear if those plans will continue under G4 Capital’s new ownership. 

It’s also been a busy week of deals for G4 Capital, which sold the 10-story office building at 74 Eighth Avenue — also known as 74-76 Eighth Avenue — in Manhattan’s West Village to Spear Street Capital on Monday for $50.5 million, CO reported.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.