Capstone Equities files plans for 233-unit conversion in DoBro

UPDATED 1:43 p.m., December 5, 2025: Capstone Equities submitted a major alteration application for a conversion of the office building at 141 Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn, to a residential use with 233 apartments. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on December 3, 2025 under job number B01293217. It calls for a rehab of the 24-story building. The project is described in the filing as: conversion of existing commercial building to residential. Michael Fabean of Capstone Equities filed the plans. The architect is Fogarty Finger.

The plans call for retail on the ground floor and lower level, and apartments from the eighth floor to the 23rd floor, including a large amenity space on the 10th floor with a fitness room (31 people), sauna (38 people), lounge (53 people) and music room (42 people). The plans show no changes for floors two through seven.

Capstone and BH3 Management took control of the property from former owner Savanna following a loan default.

The Promote reported in January 2025 that Capstone and BH3 planned to convert it to residential.

141 Willoughby Street

The property

The office building in Downtown Brooklyn has 343,701 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 132 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 18,026 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-6 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $105.3 million. The most recent loan totaled $70 million and was provided by Corebridge Financial on July 25, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold with another property by Savanna for $86 million to Capstone Equities|BH3 Management on July 22, 2025.

Development

Savanna submitted a new building construction project for a 310,077 square-foot business (B) building at 141 Willoughby Street. The plan was filed on May 29, 2019 and was permitted on November 10, 2020. It calls for the construction of a 360-foot tall, 23-story building and was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number 321593316. The project is described in the filing as: new 24 story office building with retail on cellar and first floor.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Downtown Brooklyn, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 22.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Downtown Brooklyn has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $474.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 14th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Downtown Brooklyn has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 10th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the three commercial properties representing 332,608 square feet of the 332,608 square feet. The identified owner is Capstone Equities. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 310,077 square feet. It is a 310,077 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Savanna and filed by Gregory Jaffe with plans filed May 29, 2019 and permitted August 11, 2020.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Capstone Equities owned at least nine commercial properties in New York City with 1,212,286 square feet and a city-determined market value of $219.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $296.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Corebridge Financial, Argentic Investment Management, and Prosperity Life Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 1,212,286 square feet of built space are office properties, with hotel properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 59 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 41 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 264 Flatbush Avenue Extension, PincusCo identified 11 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those 11 items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $62.5 million. The most recent of the two was Jay Group which bought the zero-square-foot, one-unit industrial (GW) on 277 Flatbush Avenue Extension and one other property for $12.5 million from Pearl Realty Management on August 30, 2024. Of those 11 items, nine were loans above $5 million totaling $344.9 million. The most recent of the nine was Jay Group in which borrowed $34.2 million from Popular Bank secured by the zero-square-foot industrial (Z9) on 163 Willoughby Street on September 12, 2025.
UPDATED with a link to the Promote which first reported the residential conversion plans.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.