Jay Group signs $53M construction loan with Ponce for 99-unit project in Downtown Brooklyn

Jay Group through the entity 165 Willoughby LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Ponce Bank  valued at $53 million for the 99-unit, 110,030-square-foot project at 165 Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn. This building is part of a five-building complex composed of five job filings, each with about 90 units and 30 stories.

This building is job number B01097098.
The deal closed on June 5, 2025 and was recorded on June 26, 2025. The prior lender was Ponce Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $15.7 million. The project has a planned zoning square feet of 110,030 square feet, according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per project zoning square foot is $482.

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 $300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

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 1.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $305.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 22nd highest in Brooklyn. For development, Downtown Brooklyn has 2.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 12 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, 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 14 commercial properties with 961 residential units in New York City with 114,482 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $586.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank Hapoalim, G4 Capital Partners, and Affinius Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 46 percent of the 114,482 square feet of built space are office properties, with industrial properties next occupying 32 percent of the space. The bulk, or 72 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 28 percent of the space.

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