Gindi Capital Acquires 163K-SF Office Building, Retail Condos in Downtown Brooklyn

Family-owned investment firm Gindi Capital paid a combined $70 million for the control of two commercial properties in Downtown Brooklyn.

The properties changed hands from seller PIMCO Prime Real Estate, which used the entity 490 Lower Unit, across three transactions dated March 19 and recorded Tuesday evening.

The first two deals amounted to $55 million and included a $40 million deed for 25 Elm Place, a 162,891-square-foot office building at the corner of Elm Place and Livingston Street. Gindi acquired the office building under the entity GC Fulton Owner. In the second deal, the firm paid another $15 million for a leasehold on the same property through the entity GC Fulton Lessee. The assignment of lease record names J.W. Mays Incorporated as the landlord. 

Tenants at 25 Elm Street include health care union 1199SEIU and fast-food restaurant Fulton Hot Dog King. Nonprofit Goodwill also has a 30,800-square-foot job training center on the entire third floor of the property, Commercial Observer previously reported.

Around the block, at the intersection of Fulton and Bond streets, control of the commercial condo units at 486-496 Fulton Street traded from Pimco to Gindi for another $15 million. This third deal was recorded as a “bargain and sale deed” and a “condominium unit deed without covenant,” implying an “as-is” ownership exchange with limited guarantees about the title. A Burlington Coat Factory, a Chase bank branch and a Lidl grocery store number among the location’s numerous retail tenants.

25 Elm Place and 486-496 Fulton Street are part of the same commercial property complex.

The deals were financed by $50.4 million in borrowed capital from Athene Annuity and Life Company, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, records show. PincusCo first reported the news of the deals.

Jack Braha, a partner at Gindi, inked the deals for the buyer. Richard Fraser, Pimco’s managing director, signed for Pimco.

The seller acquired the deed and leasehold at 25 Elm Place for a combined $18.8 million in 2013 through affiliate Allianz Real Estate. Allianz took a majority ownership stake at 486 Fulton Street the same year for $135 million. The seller was Eli Gindi, founding partner of Gindi.  

Pimco declined to comment on the transaction, while Gindi could not be immediately reached for comment. 

Emily Davis can be reached at edavis@commercialobserver.com.