Charney, Tavros, pay $164M to RFR for dev site in Gowanus
175 Third Street (Credit - Google Earth)
Charney Companies and Tavros Capital through the entity Gowanus 3rd Street Owner LLC paid $164 million to RFR Holding through the entity Gowanus Owner LLC for the industrial building (G9) at 225 Third Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The expected use is ground up development.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, B00680917, for a 450-unit, 518,000 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by RFR Holding and filed by Thomas Lavin with plans filed March 1, 2022 and permitted June 9, 2022.
The sale closed on April 30, 2025 and was recorded on May 13, 2025. The sale price per permitted project square foot is $317 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 seller bought the property on April 18, 2018, for $115 million. The signatory for RFR Holding was Thomas Lavin . The signatory for Charney Companies and Tavros Capital was Samuel Charney . The contract date was August 7, 2024. The Real Deal reported on the transaction last year after it went into contract.
To finance the purchase, the buyers obtained a secured mortgage of $110 million from Silver Point Capital, city records show.
The buyers put out a press release.
Prior sales and revenue
Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Charney Companies purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $38 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $30.5 million over the past 24 months.
The seller RFR Holding purchased three properties in three transactions for a total of $138.6 million and sold 14 properties in six transactions for a total of $1.4 billion over the same time period. The 13,518-square-foot property generated revenue of $417,841 or $31 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
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The property
The industrial building in Gowanus has 13,518 square feet of built space and 402,240 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 415,527 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 635 feet and is 190 feet deep with a total lot size of 120,793 square feet. The zoning is M1-4/R7-2 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $10.8 million. The most recent loan totaled $82.4 million and was provided by Madison Realty Capital on October 30, 2024.
Violations and lawsuits
There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $3,980 in OATH penalties in the last year.
The neighborhood
In Gowanus, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 9.2 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space. In sales, Gowanus has 2.9 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $780.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 4th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Gowanus has 1.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 24 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owner of the one commercial property that spans that spans 13,518 square feet on the block.The identified owner is Rfr Holding.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 647,353 square feet. It is a 375-unit, 647,353 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by RFR Holding and filed by Thomas Lavin with plans filed March 1, 2022 and permitted June 9, 2022.
All properties are industrial.
The seller
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Rfr Holding owned at least 18 commercial properties in New York City with 2,369,887 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.2 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 79 percent of the 2,369,887 square feet of built space are office properties, with hotel properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 96 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 4 percent of the space.
The buyer
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Charney Companies owned at least 16 commercial properties with 793 residential units in New York City with 249,321 square feet and a city-determined market value of $58.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $199.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Madison Realty Capital, Arbor Realty Trust, and Santander Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 31 percent of the 249,321 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with elevator properties next occupying 26 percent of the space. The bulk, or 36 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 33 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Tavros Capital owned at least seven commercial properties with 872 residential units in New York City with 64,538 square feet and a city-determined market value of $22.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $100.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as ACORE Capital, Centennial Bank, and Citibank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 91 percent of the 64,538 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with C0 properties next occupying 7 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.
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