A Downtown Brooklyn Site Sold at $83.5M. The Loan Is $85M.
An acquisition and pre-development facility at 101.8% of the purchase price, on two Downtown Brooklyn lots whose last recorded deed is from 1981.
Borough Developers paid a reported $83,500,000 for the Downtown Brooklyn development site at 485 Fulton Street and 147 Lawrence Street, buying from ICER Real Estate on a BridgeCity Capital acquisition and pre-development loan reported at $85,000,000. The loan is bigger than the price. The buyer’s plans reached the Buildings Department first, three New Building applications filed August 13, about three weeks before the sale closed.
Why it matters
A loan above the purchase price is not an error, it is what a pre-development facility does. The lender funds the land, then demolition, design, filings and carry as those bills arrive, and a construction loan takes the balance out later. The margin above the price is the pre-development budget, drawn over time rather than wired at closing.
The lender matters more than the mechanic. At $85,000,000 against $83,500,000, this is 101.8% of price on a site with nothing approved, so a private lender is underwriting the entitlement path. The regulated comparison is in the same record: Popular Bank’s lien here was consolidated to $60,000,000 in March 2019, against an occupied retail building with rent coming in.
The numbers
The lots are Brooklyn block 152, lots 6 and 18, 30,108 sq ft and 3,045 sq ft in the city’s property file, or 33,153 sq ft combined, under 139,438 sq ft of existing building. Both are zoned C6-4.5 at a residential floor area ratio of 10.0, so 331,530 sq ft as of right by our arithmetic, or $251.86 per buildable sq ft and $2,518.63 per sq ft of land.
Four Eighty Five LLC filed all three, each a 27-story mixed-use building declaring exactly 99 dwelling units, and asked for a single plan examiner because they are one zoning lot with one owner. Coverage of the financing describes a materially larger program. The two do not reconcile, so we are not publishing a unit count here.
Three filings at exactly 99 is the pattern we counted on September 17, when 150 city sites had filed new buildings at exactly 99 apartments against four at 100, where the 485-x wage floor starts. Both lots sit inside that 150.
What’s next
None of it is approved. The applications are in plan examiner review, the demolition in chief plan examiner review. ACRIS is published through August 31, 2026, so a September deed and the BridgeCity mortgage are not in it yet, an ordinary lag. When they land, the recorded amount will show whether the $85,000,000 is one lien or a facility with a smaller first draw. Tracing title, no deed into ICER is recorded on either lot, which usually means the interest moved at the entity level. More in the New York market.
On the record
What we checked ourselves, and where you can check it too.
- Public recordWe pulled every Buildings Department filing on Brooklyn block 152, lots 6 and 18. Three New Building applications were filed on August 13, 2026 in the name of Four Eighty Five LLC, each proposing a 27-story mixed-use building and each declaring exactly 99 dwelling units, at 101,215 sq ft, 110,192 sq ft and 106,091 sq ft of construction floor area. The reported closing came roughly three weeks later, so the buyer's plans were on file before the deed changed hands. A separate full demolition application followed on August 16 at a declared cost of $1,000,000.View the record on data.cityofnewyork.us
- Our dataWe measured the site from the city's own property file rather than the listing. Lot 6 is 30,108 sq ft and lot 18 is 3,045 sq ft, 33,153 sq ft combined, carrying 130,450 sq ft and 8,988 sq ft of existing building. Both are zoned C6-4.5 with a residential floor area ratio of 10.0, which is 331,530 sq ft as of right. Against a reported $83,500,000, our arithmetic puts the site at $251.86 per buildable sq ft and $2,518.63 per sq ft of land, and the reported $85,000,000 loan at 101.8% of the purchase price.View the record on data.cityofnewyork.us
- Public recordWe ran the full ACRIS document history on both lots. No deed into ICER is recorded on either one. The last deed filed on 485 Fulton Street is from January 14, 1981, when Korvettes Inc conveyed to Fulton Street Realty Venture, which remains the owner of record in the city's property file and was the named borrower on every mortgage since. Those mortgages run to Banco Popular and then Popular Bank in 2007, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2019, and were consolidated to a single $60,000,000 lien on March 29, 2019.View the record on data.cityofnewyork.us
- Our coverageBoth tax lots appear in the count of 150 New York City sites we published on September 17 that have filed new buildings at exactly 99 apartments since 485-x took effect. Rerun on September 18, the citywide count is 1,203 filings across 150 distinct sites, and Brooklyn block 152 accounts for three of those filings across two lots.View the record on data.cityofnewyork.us
Sources
- Commercial ObserverBorough Developers buys Downtown Brooklyn development site at 485 Fulton Street
- NYC Open Data, DOB NOW New Building applications on Brooklyn block 152Three applications filed August 13, 2026 by Four Eighty Five LLC, each 27 stories and each at 99 dwelling units
- NYC Department of Buildings, full demolition application B01426676-I1Full demolition of the 485 Fulton Street building, filed August 16, 2026, declared cost $1,000,000
- NYC Open Data, PLUTO lot and zoning record for both tax lots30,108 sq ft and 3,045 sq ft, zoned C6-4.5, owner of record Fulton St Realty Venture
- NYC Open Data, ACRIS master record for the 2019 mortgage consolidationConsolidation agreement of $60,000,000 dated March 29, 2019
- NYC Open Data, ACRIS parties on the 1981 deedKorvettes Inc to Fulton Street Realty Venture, recorded January 14, 1981