Pinnacle Group sells minority stake in Civic Center rental to partner Brookfield for $48.5M

Joel Wiener’s Pinnacle Group sold an approximately 30 percent interest in the 331-unit rental building at 111 Worth Street in Manhattan’s Civic Center for $48.5 million to Brookfield Properties, according to documents filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Pinnacle now holds no interest in the property.
The sale closed on May 1, 2024, but has not yet been recorded in city records. As a minority interest stake, the sale may not ever be recorded.
The sale comes as Wiener proceeds with a restructuring of $275 million of bonds on the Israeli exchange that it borrowed through its company Zarasai Group. Wiener has borrowed hundreds of million of dollars in several bond offering on the exchange including in 2017 when it took on $271 million secured by a portfolio of more than 9,000 residential units.

In addition, Wiener is battling with its long-time transactional law firm, Pryor Cashman, which filed a law suit in Manhattan State Supreme Court yesterday alleging it was owed $647,192 for work going back to 2021. While Wiener has not responded to the complaint, in the filing Pryor Chapman says Wiener complained about paying for legal work on deals that did not materialize, among other issues.

Wiener in 2021 sued Brookfield Properties and Forest City Realty Trust, alleging his company did not give its consent for the sale of 111 Worth Street by Forest City to Brookfield. Wiener has been a partner in the property since signing a deal with Forest City Realty Trust’s predecessor, Forest City Ratner, in 2000. However a judge in the case ruled that transfer was part of the overall entity-level acquisition that Brookfield made of Forest City Realty Trust for $11.4 billion, and so Wiener’s consent was not needed. Simultaneously with the sale, the litigation was discontinued, court records show.

The property

The elevator building with 331 residential units in Civic Center has 419,639 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 297 feet and is 107 feet deep with a total lot size of 28,302 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-4A 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 $80.3 million.

Prior sales and revenue

The 419,639-square-foot property generated revenue of $14.3 million or $34 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation and $525 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 111 Worth Street, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those five items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $41.2 million. The most recent of the three was Jack Shainman Gallery which bought four condo units in the 172-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 50 Lafayette Street for $18.2 million from Elad Group and Peebles Corporation on January 23, 2024. Of those five items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $95.9 million. The most recent of the two was Jack Shainman Gallery in which borrowed $7 million from TD Bank secured by four condo units in the 172-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 50 Lafayette Street on January 23, 2024.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.