Joseph Cayre’s Midtown Equities is putting a large parcel in Downtown Brooklyn on the market, as it looks to complete a deal to acquire one of the biggest development sites in Williamsburg.
The firm has put the Downtown Brooklyn property, at 205 Montague Street, up for sale for over $200 million. The site currently houses a five-story retail and office building and would allow for a 300,000-square-foot residential tower, featuring an affordable housing component, that could soar 700 feet or higher.
The listing comes as the Cayre-led firm seeks to complete a $200 million-plus deal for an 11-acre CitiStorage site on the Williamsburg waterfront, according to Crain’s.
Midtown Equities reportedly teamed with East End Capital to secure an option on the property, which is zoned for roughly 600,000 square feet of commercial space, earlier this year. A massive fire destroyed one of two storage warehouses on the site in January.
The two deals reportedly are not connected, with Midtown Equities planning to reinvest the proceeds from 205 Montague Street into high-end retail space it plans to purchase in the city and around the country. But a sale of the Downtown Brooklyn parcel would provide cash that could be poured into a deal for the CitiStorage site.
Midtown Equities purchased 205 Montague Street for $33 million in 2010, before placing the property on the market for $49 million within six months of its acquisition.
The firm eventually paid another $3.2 million to the city in 2012 to remove development restrictions on the site, and subsequently purchased neighboring air rights to increase the site’s buildable square footage to 300,000 square feet. It also drew up plans for both a 44-story and a 62-story tower at the property.
A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Bob Knakal is marketing the property on behalf of Midtown Equities. [Crain’s] – Rey Mashayekhi