RedSky Capital is tacking on more square footage to its sizable Downtown Brooklyn assemblage ripe for development.
The Dumbo-based investment firm paid $24.4 million for three more buildings inside a semi-triangular strip bounded by Fulton Street, DeKalb Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, according to property records filed Thursday. The contiguous properties at 547-549, 551 and 553 Fulton Street offer a combined 63,000 buildable square feet, bringing total space owned there by RedSky to about 343,000 buildable square feet.
The Woodmere-based Symons Family Trust owned the three buildings, and no others on the strip.
The new purchases illustrate a greater degree of ambition than had initially been expected from RedSky.
Led by Ben Bernstein and Ben Stokes, the firm began assembling the parcels in November 2012. It now owns 11 of the 16 buildings. The firm has paid roughly $87 million to date, including the most recent purchase. All of the low-rise, mixed-use buildings have a retail component, largely mom-and-pop stores.
But five key properties remain, if RedSky were to develop the entire site, which would comprise of 547-591 Fulton Street and 396 Flatbush Avenue Extension. The as-yet-unclaimed buildings are located at 555, 557, 559, 561-563 and 571 Fulton Street. They offer an additional 164,000 buildable square feet, allowing for RedSky to build a single structure exceeding 500,000 buildable square feet.
547-553 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn
The respective owners are Lloyd Goldman’s BLDG Management (555 Fulton Street), Lawrence Levy’s Janart Equities (557 Fulton Street), the Barbanel family (559 and 561-563 Fulton Street) and Greenpoint-based investor Jackson Ma (571 Fulton Street), according to property records.
Some retail rents along the nearby Fulton Street Mall, for example, exceed $200 per square foot.
A representative for RedSky could be reached for comment. There are no plans filed with the Department of Buildings.