After raising $34.5 million through a bond offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange last year, Brookland Capital is hungry for more.
The Bedford-Stuyvesant-based development firm led by Boaz Gilad and Assaf Fitoussi is looking to raise $30 million to fund roughly 32 Brooklyn projects in its pipeline. The Series B bond offering is expected to launch in two weeks, Gilad told The Real Deal.
“I’ll either tell you the market is going through difficulties — or that it was very successful,” Gilad quipped.
Hebrew-language business news website TheMarker first reported on the plans.
The capital will go toward purchases of development sites and construction of the condominium and rental properties in neighborhoods such as Crown Heights, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. Brookland is one of the most active in the borough, with 16 buildings under construction, 16 in the planning stages, and 15 completed to date, according to Brett Kaplan, the firm’s head of business development.
The firm, founded in 2012, prefers to develop 40-to-90-unit properties and has never paid more than $10 million for a development site. Gilad and Fitoussi were hit hard by the housing crisis, and have recovered in recent years.
Raising funds in Tel Aviv is a “natural progression of our business,” Gilad said.
Gilad said the bond offering in July 2014 was a smooth process.
Victory Consulting’s Gal Amit and Rafael Lipa, advisers for the majority of New York City developers raising funds in Tel Aviv, worked with Brookland on their offerings as well.
Last month, East Village-based Delshah Capital and New Jersey-based retail landlord the Klein Group were the latest to tap the bond market for funds. The Related Cos., Extell Development and Copperline Partners have also raised money in Tel Aviv.
Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Group delayed a public bond offering in September after poor market conditions resulted in institutional lenders and pension funds committing only about $100 million of $500 million sought on 17 properties. Sutton plans to return to the market.