Buyer pays $48M to Trans World Equities for site Lonicera is developing in Downtown Brooklyn

The entity Willoughby Owner LLC paid $48 million to Trans World Equities through the entity 100 Equities Associates, LLC for a 290-unit development Lonicera Partners is building at 55 Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on December 31, 2021 and was recorded on January 12, 2022.
Lonicera filed (B00645411) plans for a 290-unit, 261,092 square-foot residential (R-2) building on December 30, 2021.

The property has 27,175 square feet of built space and 79,680 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 106,810 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,766 and the price per buildable square foot is $449 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The signatory for Trans World Equities was Richard E. Carroll.
Prior to this transaction, the Lonicera Partners purchased nine properties in five transactions for a total of $61.7 million and sold one properties in one transactions for a total of $5.6 million over the past 24 months.
An affiliate of the seller Trans World Equities purchased one property and sold one property in one transactions for a total of $13.8 million over the same time period.
The 27,175-square-foot property generated revenue of $837,571 or $31 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

YIMBY first reported that Lonicera had proposed a 38-story high rise at 55 Willoughby Street. At the time, the property was owned by Trans World Equities which had purchased the building back in 1989. The buyer signatory is illegible and the buyer entity is in care of the law firm Goulston & Storrs.

In Downtown Brooklyn, the majority, or 36 percent of the 26.8 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Downtown Brooklyn has 1.3 times the average sales volume in the city with $365.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Downtown Brooklyn has 2.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 7th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.6 million square feet of commercial construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
On the tax block, the majority, or 97 percent of the 1.2 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 2 percent of the space.
Within a 400-foot radius of 47 Willoughby Street, PincusCo identified nine commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those nine items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on December 15, 2021 for the $271,250 renovation of 3,875-square-foot M building with 0 residential units at 453 Fulton Street.
Of those nine items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $24.3 million. The most recent of the three was United American Land which bought the 1,490-square-foot, two-unit mixed-use building (K4) on 453 Fulton Street for $5.8 million from Fasiha Sheikh on January 26, 2021.
Of those nine items, five were loans above $5 million totaling $103.2 million. The most recent of the five was Meadow Partners which borrowed $8.5 million from Fortress Investment Group secured by the 104,526-square-foot, four-unit office building (O5) on 57 Willoughby Street on October 12, 2021.

Direct link to Acris document. link