A Borough Park-based developer is acquiring a Greenpoint apartment building that was once a Catholic school, records show.
Abraham Posner, of the real estate management company Midwood Group, is in contract to take over the long-term leasehold of 100 Dupont St. from Williamsburg-based developer Watermark Capital Group, according to a memorandum of contract that appeared in the city register Thursday. Posner signed the deed himself under the limited liability company Hundred Crowns, records show. There is no price associated with the transfer, but city records show the building has a tentative market value of about $8.5 million.
The owner of the 4-story former school building, between Franklin Street and Manhattan Avenue, is Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church, which has an active house of worship just a few doors down at 150 Dupont St. The church, which did not respond to a request for comment by press time, also approved the transfer of lease for the early 20th-century building that was renovated decades later into loft-style apartments, records show.
Wolf Landau of Watermark Capital, who has a pattern of scooping up old religious properties, first entered into the lease agreement with Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in 2011, according to a contract from that time. It wasn’t supposed to expire until 2059, but Posner is taking it over for the duration.
Posner told Crain’s Thursday that he intends to maintain the apartment building, which is fully occupied, as is. He declined to comment on why Landau decided to part ways with the property, and Landau himself did not return a request for comment by press time.
For his part, Landau last year acquired a vacant and dilapidated Fort Greene church for which he is now facing claims that he allegedly cheated his business partners out of millions of dollars, Crain’s previously reported.