Gowanus Corner Draws $38.5M for 80 Units, Structure Still Open

A vacant corner at Third Avenue and Degraw Street in Gowanus took $38,475,000 of mortgage debt on August 26, recorded two days later as two separate instruments rather than one. The site is filed for a 14 story mixed use building with 80 dwelling units designated as mandatory inclusionary housing, and the structural application for it is still open at the Department of Buildings.

Why it matters

This is one of the Gowanus rezoning sites finally reaching a capital event, and the shape of that event is the part a builder should read. The money did not come from a bank. The lender of record is 213 3rd Ave 1 LLC, a private entity at 520 Madison Avenue, which is how a mid size Brooklyn ground up deal gets funded in this market when bank construction lending is scarce. The cost of that capital shows up later in what the sponsor can pay for the work.

The second signal is the sequence. A sponsor closing $38,475,000 with a structural application still in objections is funding ahead of full approval, which compresses the window between loan closing and the point at which steel has to be bought. For a subcontractor pricing this job, that compression is the schedule risk.

The numbers

The two mortgages recorded August 28 are $27,022,750 and $11,452,250, with a matching assignment of leases and rents on the larger one. The borrower is 590 Degraw LLC at 225 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, which took title from Angelo Properties, LLC in a deed recorded at $0 in the same batch, a related party transfer made to hold the collateral. No arm’s length price appears on the lot: the 2025 and 2021 deeds both recorded at $0 as well.

The land is 9,714 sq ft, classified as vacant, assessed at $838,350, and zoned M1-4/R7X with a residential floor area ratio of 5.0. The new building application describes a 14 story mixed use building with 80 proposed dwelling units and zero existing, with Adam Kushner of Kushner Studios as the architect of record. Foundation work was approved in July 2024 at $415,750, with support of excavation at $500,000 by Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers.

What’s next

The structural application clearing objections is the gate. Watch for the permit issuance and for a superstructure contract to follow. See our coverage of 456 apartments filed over a Tenth Avenue parking lot and the New York market.