Fortis, Partner Sell Brooklyn Nursing Center for $70M

Fortis Property Group has aged out of its ownership of a nursing facility in Bushwick.

Fortis Investment Group — an affiliate of Fortis Property Group — and Zevi Kohn’s TL Management sold the 240-bed Buena Vista Continuing Care and Rehabilitation Center at 48 Cedar Street for $70 million, according to city records reported by PincusCo. The buyer was Solomon Klein, an experienced nursing home investor.

The sale of the 131,000-square-foot property works out to roughly $531 per built square foot. Klein secured a $52 million loan from Deutsche Bank and $8.8 million subordinate loan from Capital Funding Group to finance the acquisition. A private lender also provided a $13.3 million loan, according to CoStar data pulled by Crain’s.

Fortis and TL Management purchased the eight-story property in May 2020, along with the adjacent 60 Cedar Street, from RiseBoro Community Partnership for $58.8 million. Plans for a 145-unit building have since been filed at 60 Cedar Street, which was not included in the sale to Klein.

People’s United Bank provided a $40 million acquisition loan for the nursing facility in 2020. The property opened in 2001.

Fortis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. TL Management and Solomon Klein could not be reached for comment.

Fortis has kept busy in Brooklyn and neighboring boroughs in recent years, including its fair share of controversies over labor strikes, a leaning tower, foreclosure near-misses and allegations of fraud.

Closings began this year at Olympia Dumbo, a sail-shaped condo between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. The first residents moved in to 30 Front Street in February despite ongoing construction for the 33-story, 76-unit building, which boasts a projected sellout of $404 million. It’s on pace to be the borough’s priciest condo project per square foot.

— Holden Walter-Warner