RFR Gets Some Good News With $160M Sale of Gowanus Development Site

RFR Holding is in contract to sell its empty development site at 175 Third Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn, to Tavros Capital and Charney Companies for more than $160 million, an RFR spokesperson confirmed to Commercial Observer.

If the sale of the development site goes through, Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’s RFR will reap a 39 percent profit on the $115 million they paid of the $115 million they paid for the site back in 2018. The Real Deal first reported the sale. 

“RFR acquired the site in anticipation of a rezoning of the Gowanus neighborhood,” a spokesperson for RFR said in a statement to CO. “This, combined with the robust design scheme we established for the site and qualification for the extension of the 421a tax abatement, has created a prime opportunity for the next phase of development under new ownership.”

The high-priced deal for the empty lot — where RFR pitched a Bjarke Ingles Group-designed residential tower — comes after the Gowanus rezoning proposal was approved on Nov. 23, 2021, as part of New York City’s efforts to spur affordable housing development and access to local jobs, according to the City Planning Commission. 

Both Tavros Capital and Charney Companies declined to comment. Andrew Sasson of Ackman-Ziff brokered the deal, but also declined to comment to CO. 

The sale of the Third Street property is some welcome good news for RFR, as the landlord has been in a bit of trouble lately as at least five of its more prominent loans have gone into special servicing or faced foreclosure this year, CO previously reported. RFR owns several iconic New York City landmarks including the Seagram Building, which was designed by famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1958. 

Rosen and Fuchs also own the Chrysler Building, which they purchased in 2019 from Tishman Speyer and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council for $151 million. The duo has been struggling to revitalize the iconic building despite pouring over $100 million into improvements, CO previously reported. 

Additionally, Cooper Union — which owns the land beneath the building and requires a whopping $32 million per year in ground lease payments — announced at the end of September that RFR was behind on at least $21 million in rent so far this year. RFR responded with a lawsuit after Cooper Union terminated its lease and took control of the building. 

RFR has also been recently hit with a string of foreclosure notices after allegedly defaulting on several of its loans tied to properties around the city, including the $80 million loan on the Third Street property, according to TRD.

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