Gilbane signs $199.2M construction loan for development in Brownsville

Gilbane Inc. through the entity Artspace Brownsville Housing Development Fund as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender NYC Housing Development Corporation through the entity Department Of Housing Preservation And Development valued at $199.2 million for the development building (V1) at 366 Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, B01007946, for a 283-unit, 247,168-square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Blue Sea Development Company and filed by Les Bluestone with plans filed April 18, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on June 25, 2025 and was recorded on July 15, 2025. The property has zero square feet of built space and 228,052 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 228,052 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per buildable square foot is $805 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 Gilbane Inc. was Yarojin Robinson .

The property

The parcel has frontage of 345 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 57,013 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5 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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Brownsville, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 28.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Brownsville has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $158.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Brownsville has 1.3 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Brooklyn. It had 1.8 million 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 two of the 14 commercial properties representing 27,257 square feet of the 89,427 square feet. The two identified owners are Riseboro Community Partnership and Eddie E. Serure.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 404,794 square feet. The largest is a 283-unit, 248,438 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Blue Sea Development Company and filed by Les Bluestone with plans filed April 18, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 215-unit, 156,356 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by RiseBoro Community Partnership|Slate Property Group and filed by Emily Kurtz with plans filed May 23, 2022 and permitted August 8, 2023.

The majority, or 49 percent of the 89,427 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with office buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Gilbane Inc. owned at least one commercial property with 1,272 residential units in New York City with 1,291,359 square feet and a city-determined market value of $110.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $445.9 million in debt, borrowed from Merchants Capital and New York City Housing Authority. The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property. It is located in Manhattan.

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