One of the last major development sites on the Greenpoint waterfront is now spoken for. Jacob Kohn’s Jay Group has struck a deal to buy multiple parcels from the Guttman family, The Promote has learned, and has landed $300M+ in financing from G4 Capital to build a big resi project there. Fascinating intricacies to the deal & a great cast of characters involved. 👇

Insiders have already enjoyed Wednesday bangers such as our look at the Chinese equity providers still writing checks; a snapshot of go-to financier King Street; Ares’ quiet bankrolling of a big NYC hospitality secondaries deal, and the Capstack Chronicles of Miami’s One River. Plus, Monday & Friday eds. often incl. Insider-only sections w/ those sweet deets that move the needle (like today’s Greenpoint breakdown). Founding Members pay $20/month. Information is oxygen, so sign up for a 2-week free trial now and breathe easy.

LA resi developers, walloped by what they see as regulatory chokeholds across their business, are finding solace in 100% affordable housing projects. Through a streamlining (removes public-hearing periods & City Council votes on certain affordable projects) policy known as ED1 that the city launched in late ‘22, developers have filed plans for 40K+ units, and more than 75% of them have been approved. That’s more than twice the approved units in the 3Y period pre-ED1, per city data cited by WSJ.

“ED1 is the only reason we came out here,” developer Daniel Glimcher told the publication. “Market-rate multifamily just really doesn’t pencil out in L.A.” Glimcher and 4 other builders from across the US formed a vehicle, Passo, specifically to tap the program. Others though, already feel ED1’s being watered down: It can no longer be used on projects in single-family neighborhoods, and incentives & fee waivers are now capped. “It restricts your development potential,” said Generation Real Estate Partners’ Steven Scheibe, who said his experiment w/ ED1 was a “one and done.”

Key state context: This summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom gutted CEQA, the environmental law that for decades was used as a NIMBY arch-weapon.

Intriguing NJ (2 words that rarely go together) office listing via REA that caught our attention for a couple reasons. First, the OG sponsor on this is Shaya Prager (08701 > 90210 😍), and the structure is classic Prager: bifurcated leasehold interest in 4 Florham Park buildings, w/ Prager-related entities loading up debt on both the leasehold & the land. Prager’s Opal Holdings bought the properties + 2 others in ‘20 for $311M ($262 / 🦶 ); the leasehold interests on the 4 now up for grabs are now being teased at $18M ($31 / 🦶) – not great. Also, JLL is shopping them on behalf of Trigild, a Dallas-based receiver/distressed asset manager, but the OG lender on this appears to be Webster Bank. Webster sued Prager & his wife Shulamit last year in NJ court, alleging they owed the bank $141M over the Florham Park deals and one in Hamilton; Trigild is also shopping the Hamilton property for a sharply discounted $57/ 🦶.

The pains for Webster do not end w/ Prager. The bank is caught up in a tussle between The Bancorp & obliterated syndicator Vision & Beyond over some allegedly shady subordinate debt.

Fun one: John McCarthy’s Hubb NYC has picked up a 105-unit rental in Dumbo for $85M, per records spotted by Crain’s. The seller is Carlyle, but there’s a bit to unpack: The site was purchased as part of a larger assemblage from the Jehovah's Witnesses by Sam Sidhu’s Megalith Capital Management in ‘14. Sidhu teamed up w/ BK developer Shelly Listokin of Urban Realty Partners to develop both rentals and condos at the site, and brought in Carlyle as the equity and Bank Leumi as the lender. Megalith looks to have since folded, and Sidhu now runs PA-based Customers Bank. Listokin, meanwhile, made an aborted run at the debt on Fortis’ Leaning Tower of Fidi in ‘23, and has since been doing a series of nibbly deals around Brooklyn.

Hubb, meanwhile, has been scaling up in recent years w/ meaty multifamily acquisitions. Its former CIO, Jesse Terry, passed away over the summer.