Jay Group signs $264M refi with Affinius Capital for dev sites in Downtown Brooklyn
Jay Group through the entity 104 Fleet Realty LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Affinius Capital through the entity Sm Finance III LLC valued at $264 million for five development parcels on one tax block in Downtown Brooklyn, including 277 Flatbush Avenue Extension, 163 Willoughby Street, and 106 Fleet Place.
The deal closed on March 20, 2026 and was recorded on April 21, 2026. The prior lender was Popular Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $264 million.
The signatory for Jay Group was Jacob Kohn . The signatory for Affinius Capital was Beth Newman .
The property
The zoning is C6-4 which allows for up to 10 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 $1.8 million.
Transaction Participants
Scott Levine at King & Spalding LLP participated in the transaction on behalf of the new lender.
Violations and lawsuits
There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $161,875 in ECB penalties and $120,650 in OATH penalties in the last year.
Development
On these lots, there are five active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 457,055 square feet. The largest, B01097093, is a new building project for a 90-unit, 102,123 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Jay Group and filed by Abe Kohn with plans filed September 17, 2024 and permitted June 6, 2025. The second largest, B01097098, is a new building project for a 90-unit, 100,156 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Jay Group and filed by Shimon Drummer with plans filed September 17, 2024 and permitted June 11, 2025.
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 1.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $470 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 16th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Downtown Brooklyn has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 13th 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 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On the tax block of 163 Willoughby Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of nine of the nine commercial properties representing 65,597 square feet of the 65,597 square feet. The two identified owners are Jay Group and Nyct.
On the tax block, there were six new building construction projects totaling 481,166 square feet. The largest is a 90-unit, 102,123 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Jay Group and filed by Abe Kohn with plans filed September 17, 2024 and permitted January 29, 2025. The second largest is a 90-unit, 100,156 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Jay Group and filed by Shimon Drummer with plans filed September 17, 2024 and permitted February 11, 2025.
The majority, or 80 percent of the 65,597 square feet of built space are office buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 13 percent of the space.
The borrower
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jay Group owned at least 15 commercial properties with 961 residential units in New York City with 181,482 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.1 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $847.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as G4 Capital Partners, Bank Hapoalim, and Affinius Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 181,482 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with office properties next occupying 29 percent of the space. The bulk, or 82 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 17 percent of the space.
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