The former home of Wild Turkey’s distributor is the subject of a “wildly” significant deal.

We now hear Jared Kushner, LIVWRK and Rockpoint are in contract with Jason Halpern to recapitalize his edgy luxury apartment warehouse at 184 Kent Ave. on the East River in Williamsburg for $275 million.

This is the third project Kushner has purchased along with LIVWRK’s Asher Abehsera. Last year, they kicked off their partnership with Dumbo Heights, the rechristened former Jehovah’s Witness property they purchased for $375 million along with Invesco Real Estate and Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ RFR Holdings and are turning into offices and apartments with street retail.

In the fall of 2014, they purchased three acres across from Whole Foods on the Gowanus Canal along with SL Green Realty Corp. for what could become a nearly 1 million-square-foot, mixed-use residential and retail project.

The eight-story former warehouse at 184 Kent Ave. was designed by Cass Gilbert (of Woolworth Building fame) in 1913 to sit between North Third and North Fourth streets, where it later housed Austin, Nichols & Co., the Wild Turkey distributors. The renovated building is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The warehouse was redeveloped by Halpern’s JMH Development, who also has deals going in Cobble Hill and Miami.

The 338 high-end, open-plan studios-to-three-bedroom rentals have retained their concrete industrial feel through the SLCE Architects design.

With 12-foot to 15-foot ceilings, they are bright and airy and many have Manhattan skyline views. The pricing per unit works out to a dramatic $858,000. The pioneering site also includes over 17,850 square feet of 25-foot high retail, which is rented, in part, to Soul Cycle.

The parties either declined comment or could not be reached.


To those that are walking around Columbus Circle Wednesday to protest “tax giveaways” for luxury apartments through the expiring 421a tax-abatement program, here’s a little tax history lesson.

Prior to the development of One57, the site held a smaller, old office building and a series of ramshackle townhouses with retail stores.

Gary Barnett began buying buildings and was ready to start construction when the bottom fell out of the market. No one was building, no one was lending and nothing was selling. He managed to pull off a Middle East money-sourced loan, a deal with Hyatt for a hotel and a pact with contractors, all while paying taxes and mortgages on the properties.

In 2008-09, the market value of just the office building was $11.3 million and taxes were $259,462. The following year, taxes were $340,199 and in the declining market and start of construction in 2010-11, the value fell to $4,902,800 but the tax bill was still $230,025.

Now, in the 2014-15 tax year, the new Park Hyatt hotel alone paid $3,496,613.06 in taxes and staring in July 2015 could pay $5,734,576.

That’s right; the new hotel alone is paying 10 times more in taxes than the former office building.

As for the “rich” folks on the top, or 90th, floor, the owner bought it for $100 million and paid $17,268 in taxes last year on a billable value of $76,140. As the abatement peels off, its billable value went up five times to $698,435 as will its taxes, to nearly $100,000, and will rise again until the abatement disappears.

One flight down, the owner paid $9,788 in taxes last year with a billable value of $134,331. The billable rises to $319,740 in July, with its tax bill also rising nearly three times, to roughly $30,000.

City tax rates will be set in June. The city is out nothing but gets transfer taxes, construction and other jobs, and local businesses like restaurants and dry cleaners get new customers.

These apartments and buildings will always pay more than what was there before and each one of those apartments could be paying more than an entire block filled with small homes.

Their taxes will help fund police, firefighters, garbage collection and schools — and even other people’s affordable apartments.

Remember that when you pay your rent or tax bill or want to complain because some idiot just paid $150 million for the most expensive apartment at the top of the upcoming 550 Madison.


The high-end classical architectural firm, Peter Pennoyer Architects, was busting out of its 9,000 square feet at 432 Park Ave. S. It will now double in size to the nearby 136 Madison Ave. at 32nd Street.

Here, the firm will have 18,634 square feet on the 11th floor, which had an asking rent of $50 per foot.

Cushman & Wakefield’s David Rosenbloom and Emily Weber represented the architects in the relocation and expansion. The C&W team also subleased the remaining nine years on its lease in the building, owned by Samco, to a laundry firm, CoStar now shows.

The Cohen, Roos and Carmel families that own 136 Madison were represented by Andy Roos of Colliers International.