Carlyle Group Affiliate Unloads Dumbo Luxury Rental Building

An affiliate of the Carlyle Group has sold a 12-story luxury rental building at 181 Front Street in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood to Hubb NYC Properties for $85 million.

The deal was brokered by a team from JLL Capital Markets that included Jeffrey Julien, Rob Hinckley, Steven Rutman, Michael Zaremski, Michael Shmuely and John Flynn. JLL Real Estate Capital provided a $43.33 million loan to the buyer, according to public records.

Crain’s New York Business was first to report the sale.

According to public records, the property was owned by Babb Trucking Corporation (now Babb Logistics) from 1977 through 1996, when, as 175 Front Street, it was acquired by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, a “religious organization organized to support the activities of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States,” according to the nonprofit data website GuideStar.

Watchtower sold the property, along with two others — 173 Front Street and 200 Water Street — for $30.6 million to Megalith Capital Management, acting as Dumbo Assemblage, in 2013. 

Public records show that Megalith sold the properties at 173 Front Street and 177 Front Street (another alternate address for 181 Front Street) in May 2014 to Carlyle Group affiliate 177 Front Property Owner for $21.35 million, with the latter characterized as “non-residential vacant land.”

That same month, however, Commercial Observer reported that Megalith had confirmed that the two entities, along with Urban Realty Partners, were working as a partnership to develop the residential property, and had secured $72.5 million in construction financing from Tel Aviv-based Bank Leumi. 

While the project, located between Jay and Bridge streets, was initially to include rentals and condominiums, the 136,730-square-foot building, completed in 2018, is currently a 105-unit luxury rental building — with 21 units affordable — offering one- to three-bedroom apartments with amenities such as large windows, private terraces, a communal roof deck, a fitness center, a children’s play area and more. 

Current market-rate availabilities include a one-bedroom going for $4,381 per month, two-bedrooms from $6,750 to $6,999, and a three-bedroom for $9,750.

Hubb has been busy in Dumbo this year, purchasing a five-story, 26-unit residential property at 260 Water Street from a partnership between City Urban Realty and Stellar Management for $20.3 million in August, as CO previously reported. The firm also acquired a residential property at 345 East 64th Street in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill section from the Parkoff Organization in January 2025 for $34 million, as CO reported.  

Hubb NYC Properties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.