Oct 31, 2016

Jehovah’s Witnesses look to unload another prime Brooklyn property


It’s one of three buildings the Witnesses are currently offering on sale

TANAY WARERKAR
Curbed
OCTOBER 31, 2016

As the Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to decamp from Brooklyn Heights and make their way to their new headquarters in Warwick, New York, the group has listed another valuable property for sale. This time it’s one of the religious organization’s residential buildings at 97 Columbia Heights, the Brooklyn Eagle first reported.

The 11-story building currently comes with 97 apartments and could fetch anywhere between $60 million-$88 million, real estate experts told the Commercial Observer. And it’s most likely primed for a condo conversion, those experts told the CO.

The site was once home to the tallest building in Brooklyn, Hotel Margaret, but that building was destroyed in a fire in 1980. The Witnesses purchased it in 1986 and housed many of their headquarters staff there in subsequent years.

The organization new headquarters began operating in Warwick on September 1 this year, and the property at 97 Columbia Heights marks one of the last few properties the organization owns in the neighborhood. The tower has a rooftop terrace, 30 parking spots, and private outdoor terraces in many of its apartments, and many of those units boast views of the East River and the Manhattan skyline.

The organization has sold about $1.25 billion in assets between 2004 and now, an analysis by the CO this past September revealed. One of the biggest deals relating to that portfolio was the sale of their iconic watchtower building for $340 million in August this year. Jared Kushner was one of the buyers, along with LIVWRK and the CIM Group. Kushner and LIVWRK had previously shelled out $345 million for five buildings owned by the Witnesses in Dumbo.

The Witnesses are currently selling two other buildings, a residential tower at 107 Columbia Heights, and a mixed-use building at 74 Adams Street in Dumbo. Earlier today it was revealed that the Witnesses had sold a four-story recreational facility at 69 Adams Street for an undisclosed sum, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

http://ny.curbed.com/2016/10/31/13477878/jehovahs-witnesses-brooklyn-heights-building-for-sale

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