RXR Takes Loss on Clinton Hill Sale, Despite Rezoning

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Scott Rechler shepherded a Clinton Hill site through a rezoning process. Then he sold it — at a loss.

RXR sold the full-block development site at 47 Hall Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood to Yitzchok Schwartz’s YS Developers for $121.4 million, the Commercial Observer reported. The deal for the vacant 550,000-square-foot site breaks down to approximately $221 per square foot.

It’s unclear how much RXR lost on its investment in the 10-block assemblage, tucked between the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Flushing Avenue. But the firm bought the site in 2016 for $161 million, originally intending to convert it into luxury office space before the pandemic brought renovations to a halt.

YS Developers could not be reached for comment, while RXR did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.

Rechler did leave YS with a parting gift; the site landed approval for a rezoning shortly after scoring key political support over the summer. Schwartz’s firm intends to move forward with those plans, a campus that would span 933,000 square feet with 620 apartments — including between 150 and 180 affordable units — 48,000 square feet of retail space, 161,000 square feet of self-storage space and 36,000 square feet for parking.

The property has been vacant since 2023, when it was leased to New York City Health + Hospitals to be used as a migrant shelter. Portions of the space briefly housed more than 3,000 asylum seekers; the lease for the health and hospital system expired last March.

Around the same time RXR was getting approval in Clinton Hill, YS Developers was moving forward with a controversial project at 960 Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, planning 300 condo units with a projected sellout of $273 million.

The seven-story building is set to feature one- to two-bedroom condos, with prices starting under $600,000 for a one-bedroom and reaching approximately $1.6 million for a two-bedroom on the top floor.

There were years of disputes and rejected proposals for the site, including earlier plans by Bruce Eichner for significantly taller towers that were opposed due to concerns about shadowing the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

— Holden Walter-Warner