July 2012

Another Brooklyn Heights property in the Jehovah’s Witnesses real estate portfolio has hit the marketplace. A five-story, 5,088-square-foot residential building at 67 Remsen Street—ironically, abutting the back of organization’s recently sold Bossert Hotel—is asking $3.4M. It features 10 units, a private garden and will be delivered vacant, according to David Schechtman of marketing firm Eastern Consolidated. He adds it could be converted to a single-family home.

The Real Deal reports that the building previously housed students and volunteers associated with the religious group’s Watchtower Society. As the Jehovah’s Witnesses move forward with their planned relocation upstate to Warwick, N.Y., and Patterson, N.Y., the residences were no longer necessary, Schechtman says.

The group’s mammoth portfolio of buildings have been marketed variously by Massey Knakal, Cushman & Wakefield’s Nat Rockett, and now, Eastern. “Engaging a third firm is a sign that the religious group has decided now is the time to divest from their properties,” a source told The Real Deal. The group owned 25 Brooklyn buildings before they began selling them off two years ago.

If left a multi-family dwelling, the net operating income at the building would be about $140,000 a year, documents obtained by The Real Deal show, although “a well-maintained single-family home might be a bigger draw” in the Heights. A 3-bedroom townhouse down the street at 12 College Place recently went into contract for $4.85M, Streeteasy cites.

“Inside of a million [in construction costs], you could easily have one of the nicest townhouses you will ever see,” Schechtman told the newspaper.

(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/44739