Borough Developers Signs $139M Ground Lease in Fort Greene

Borough Developers continues to live up to its name in Brooklyn.

Mendel Berkowitz’s firm signed a 99-year ground lease with John Mullins & Sons to take control of a 19,000-square-foot corner assemblage in Fort Greene, the Commercial Observer reported. Borough Developers is set to pay $1.4 million annually for 673-695 Fulton Street, a deal that will cost $139 million over its lifetime.

A nonprofit and a health club occupy the mixed-use property today, but Borough Developers has grander ambitions for the site at the corner of Fulton Street and South Portland Avenue. The firm is looking to build an 81,000-square-foot development with rentals and ground-floor retail.

A Meridian Capital Group team led by Thomas Donovan, Tommy Lin and Eugene Kim helped arrange the lease. Officials from Borough Developers and John Mullins did not respond to requests for comments from the Observer.

Last year, an entity tied to Borough Developers paid $12 million to Slate Property Group for 155 South Elliott Place in Brooklyn. A planned 101-unit development is under construction at the Fort Greene site, which Slate acquired in a property portfolio deal in 2022.

The firm is also working on a ground-up redevelopment at 182 Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn, set to include 135 residential units and commercial space. That project is estimated to be completed next year.

Elsewhere in Fort Greene, Brooklyn-based developers Hesky and Samy Brahimy filed plans last month to convert the property at 167-171 Clermont Avenue — a former armory — into condos. The site currently houses 110 rental units.

The Brahimys are partnering on the project with John Frezza of the Strategic Development and Construction Corporation. The developers — who bought the property at a city auction for $300,000 in 1995 — converted the armory under New York City’s New Opportunities Program, which encouraged developers to build middle-income housing by providing affordable mortgage rates. 

— Holden Walter-Warner

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