Conway stores scion Abe Cohen has closed on an acquisition loan for a portfolio of mixed-used Brooklyn buildings.
Cohen’s Conway Capital acquired the four properties for $11.5 million and plans to upgrade the residential units for luxury high end rental use. The portfolio consists of 14 residential units and two commercial spaces.
The properties include 74 First Place in Carroll Gardens, a 5,324 sq. ft. four-story building with five residential units; 228 Livingston Street in Boreum Hills, a 4,904 sq. ft. four-story building with two residential units and two commercial stores; 710 DeGraw Street in Park Slope (pictured top) a 3,938 s/f four-story building with four residential units; 302 East 5th Street in Park Slope, a 2,772 s/f three-story building with three residential units
Conway Capital, a real estate investment and management firm based in Brooklyn Heights, secured a $8.892 million acquisition loan from Urban Standard Capital.
“This was a very complex transaction,” said Urban Standard Capital’s vice president Charlie Brosens. “All the residential units were delivered vacant at closing or shortly after. As a result, the portfolio had no positive cash flow and we didn’t have an interest reserve on our loan or any funds held back at closing for the construction work. From the time we received the term sheet, we closed in under 30 days.”
The 12-month loan included a six-month extension option and interest rate under nine percent.
According to Brosens, the legal structure entailed four individual mortgages with separate release prices, separate ownership interests and tenants in common (TICs) for each property
Abe Cohen, the chairman and CEO of Conway Capital, founded the real estate company in 2016 and has acquired more than 15 buildings and 400 apartments in New York and Israel with a total market value of over $250 million.
Cohen is the grandson of Abe Cohen, who along with his brother David Cohen founded Conway Stores in 1946 and grew it from a small apparel store on Fordham Road in the Bronx, to a multi-million dollar discount national apparel company with over 49 stores throughout New York City. Abe’s father Ricky, who took over the chain in 1981, later sold it to National Stores.
Urban Standard Capital’s Seth Weissman and Charles Brosens delivered the financing and Mercury Capital’s Eric Gleitman represented Conway Capital.
