Watermark Capital Files 25-Story Fort Greene Tower, 841 Days Later

On June 27, 2024, 144 BAM LLC paid $15 million for 13 Hanson Place in Fort Greene, the longtime home of Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church. The deed, filed under the buyer’s Brooklyn address care of Watermark Capital Group, closed quietly and the site went still. No public filing followed for 841 days. On October 16, 2026, the same owner filed with the Department of Buildings to vertically enlarge the existing building into a 25-story tower with 123 residential units.

Why it matters

A site can sell and then sit for years before a market, a financing window, or a design finally lines up. The gap itself is the signal here: two years and four months between the deed and the first construction filing is long enough to rule out a quick flip, but short enough that the buyer never let the parcel go fully dormant. For other Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn landowners sitting on underused religious or institutional buildings, the filing shows a buyer willing to wait out a site before committing capital to drawings and permits.

The numbers

The deed, document ID 2024062800584003, records a $15,000,000 sale price and a document date of June 27, 2024, with the transfer recorded on July 5, 2024. The job filing, B01457395-I1, proposes converting and vertically enlarging the existing two-story building to 25 stories and 123 dwelling units, with an initial construction cost of $5,732,428 and 220,478 square feet of floor area. The filing was submitted October 16, 2026, which is 841 days after the June 27, 2024 deed date. The application is listed as an alteration that keeps existing building elements rather than a full teardown, filed by FXCollaborative Architects with Paul Jensen named as the corporate owner contact.

What’s next

The job filing is in the plan examination stage, per DOB NOW’s current status, not yet approved for construction. A 25-story residential conversion of a former church sanctuary will likely draw zoning and community board attention in a corridor that has already absorbed several office-to-residential conversions nearby. Whether 144 BAM LLC breaks ground quickly or lets the application sit through review will say more about financing conditions in the neighborhood than the deed alone could. More on the area’s conversion wave: BH3 and Capstone’s $208M Downtown Brooklyn office-to-apartment loan. For continuing coverage, see the New York market hub.