Joel Zupnick Bags $148M Loan for Jamaica Multifamily Project

Moshe Braver secured $148 million in construction financing for the second phase at his multifamily project at 94-15 Sutphin Boulevard in the Jamaica neighborhood, the Commercial Observer reported. Dwight Mortgage Trust supplied the loan, which was arranged by SHB Group’s Steven Hersko.

While Dwight’s loan, which does not appear in public records, appeared to go to Braver, it’s not entirely clear what his role in the development is. An application for the Brownfield Cleanup Project labels Braver’s affiliate as a tenant and an affiliate of Joel Zupnick as the landlord.

The most recent deed also lists Zupnick’s entity as the owner, as does a previous CO story about another loan for the project. A previous report — on a $142 million construction loan provided by Scale Lending for the first phase of the project, in October 2023 — described Heartfelt Townhouse Builder’s Joel Weiss as the project applicant.

Weiss, Zupnick and Braver could not be reached by The Real Deal for comment. SHB Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 24-story, 524-unit project on Sutphin Boulevard will feature 366 market-rate apartments and 158 affordable housing units. Amenities will include a fitness center, yoga studio, business center, game room, theater, resident lounge, children’s playroom, pet spa and library. There will also be ground-floor retail space.

Completion is slated for later this year. The project may become one of the rare ones of more than 100 units to be eligible for a 485x tax abatement.

The Zupnick affiliate bought the site in late 2021 for $59.7 million.

Elsewhere in Jamaica, the Chetrit Group allegedly racked up eight counts of default linked to its Parkhill City project, leading to a back-and-forth in court filings between the borrower and its lender.

— Holden Walter-Warner