Watermark, Rubin Equities sign $125M construction loan with Bravo Capital for resi conversion in Downtown Brooklyn

Watermark Capital Group and Rubin Equities through the entity 175 Pearl Street LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Bravo Capital through the entity Bpt 175p Funding LLC valued at $125 million for the office building (O6) at 175 Pearl Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn.

Watermark Capital Group filed a plans for a major alteration, B01101684, to convert the existing office building into a 198-unit, 257,773 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The plans were filed on September 30, 2024 and permitted February 28, 2025.
The loan closed on March 11, 2025 and was recorded on March 20, 2025. The prior lender was Birch Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $59 million.The property has 184,965 square feet of built space and 27,159 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 212,180 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $675 and the price per buildable square foot is $589 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 owner bought the property on May 29, 2024, for $66.5 million. The signatory for Watermark Capital Group and Rubin Equities was Wolfe Landau . The signatory for Bravo Capital was Aaron Krawitz .

Prior sales and revenue

The 184,965-square-foot property generated revenue of $10.8 million or $58 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Downtown Brooklyn has 184,965 square feet of built space and 27,159 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 212,180 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 205 feet and is 103 feet deep with a total lot size of 21,218 square feet. The zoning is M1-6/R10 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $43.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $59 million and was provided by BridgeCity Capital on May 29, 2024.

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 one DOB violation, $1,250 in ECB penalties, and $1,250 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 1.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $390.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 17th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Downtown Brooklyn has 2.6 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.9 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the two commercial properties representing 657,932 square feet of the 657,932 square feet. The two identified owners are Watermark Capital Group and Breaking Ground.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 72 percent of the 657,932 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Watermark Capital Group owned at least 138 commercial properties with 1,591 residential units in New York City with 1,656,550 square feet and a city-determined market value of $317.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $221.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Slate Property Group, BridgeCity Capital, and Signature Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 1,656,550 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 18 percent of the space. The bulk, or 89 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 6 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Rubin Equities owned at least three commercial properties with 69 residential units in New York City with 20,555 square feet and a city-determined market value of $6.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $64 million in debt, borrowed from Popular Bank and Citibank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 20,555 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

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