Williamsburg’s Landmarked Dime Bank Building Trades Hands in Two-Part $28.5M Deal

Williamsburg’s Landmarked Dime Bank Building Trades Hands in Two-Part $28.5M Deal

A pair of New York City property owners has acquired the commercial portion of the Dime, a mixed-use development in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in a pair of transactions totaling $28.5 million, according to city records filed Friday.

The buyers, operating through entities named Dime Commercial Holdings and Dime Retail Holdings, purchased both the former Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburg branch at 209 Havemeyer Street and the podium space beneath the 23-story, 177-unit residential tower at 277 South Fifth Street. The seller was Diamond Realty Investments, the U.S. real estate arm of Mitsubishi Corporation, which completed the original development in 2020.

Deal Structure

City filings show the sale was split into two components. The roughly 95,000-square-foot office section at the tower’s base sold for $20.5 million, while the 55,000-square-foot retail space housed in the restored and long-vacant banking hall went for $8 million.

Behind the purchasing entities are Joel Teitelbaum and Shimon Brach, investors with a portfolio of commercial and residential holdings across the city. The pair funded the acquisition in part with a $20 million loan from Levon Capital, per records. Anthony Strauser, an executive vice president overseeing residential at Diamond Realty, signed on behalf of the seller.

Brokerage Involvement

A team at CBRE led by Daniel Kaplan represented Diamond Realty in the sale, while the buyers were unrepresented. CBRE — which posted a market capitalization of about $42.8 billion, with shares recently trading near $143.73, down roughly 3% on the day — declined to comment on the transaction. Ripco Real Estate, which had been marketing the retail component, did not respond to an inquiry, and neither the buyers nor a Levon Capital spokesperson could be reached.

Context

The transaction unwinds a portion of Diamond Realty’s stake in one of Williamsburg’s more distinctive developments, which incorporated the early-20th-century bank building into the base of a new residential high-rise. The landmarked banking hall had sat without a tenant since the project was completed, making the retail component’s sale a notable step toward activating the ground floor of the property.

What to watch

• Any announced tenants or lease agreements for the restored banking hall retail space.
• Leasing progress on the 95,000-square-foot office component under its new ownership.
• Further dispositions by Diamond Realty Investments across its New York portfolio.
• CBRE’s upcoming quarterly earnings, which may touch on investment sales activity in the Brooklyn market.

Source: original release