Fort Greene Brooklyn Masonic Temple signs $5M refi with Rcubed, Brooklyn Bridge Capital

The Brooklyn Masonic Temple, a music venue and meeting space for the fraternal organization, through the entity Brooklyn Masonic Temple LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Rcubed Real Estate and Brooklyn Bridge Capital through the entity R4 RE LLC valued at $5 million for the specialty building (M3) at 317 Clermont Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on April 3, 2025 and was recorded on April 14, 2025. The property has 54,150 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $92 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 Brooklyn Masonic Temple was Michael C. Bernard, Johnnie Walker, and Elmer Rothwell. The signatory for Rcubed Real Estate and Shay Krausz’s Brooklyn Bridge Capital was Lawrence Rosenblum . Bernard and Rothwell are signatories on the 2023 federal nonprofit tax return for the Empire State Grand Council Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite Mason, which turned over ownership in a zero dollar transaction to Brooklyn Masonic Temple LLC.

The property

The specialty building in Fort Greene has 54,150 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 195 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 19,500 square feet. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Fort Greene Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4 million.

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 six DOB violations, $10,670 in ECB penalties, and $13,670 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Fort Greene, The bulk, or 34 percent of the 12.5 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Fort Greene has 2.1 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $573.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Fort Greene has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 712,615 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the seven commercial properties representing 6,316 square feet of the 31,464 square feet. The identified owner is Danny Browne.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 78 percent of the 31,464 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Brooklyn Masonic Temple owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 54,150 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $5 million in debt, borrowed from Rcubed Real Estate. The portfolio consists of at least a single M3 property. It is located in Brooklyn.

Direct link to Acris document. link