A Wrench in 388 Bridge Street's Plans?

Developer Greg Wolpert has been rather tight-lipped about the 49-story tower that he has planned for 388 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn. One reason may have something to do with his deal to purchase the nearby building at 68-78 Willoughby Street. The buildings’ current owner RA Realty entered into a contract with Wolpert to sell the Willougby Street properties for $10,000,000 last year. The problem: The buildings are zoned commercial but have been rented out to residential tenants for decades. DOB caught on earlier this year and issued a C of O violation which is what we suspect is holding up the project. Why is this a big deal? The three buildings come with almost 90,000 square feet of air rights; if the deal gets queered over the C of O issue, that could lead to a haircut of up to 20 percent on the roughly 450,000 square feet Wolpert wants to build at 388 Bridge Street. Of course, the problem could also just be the terrible financing environment.
Development Watch: 388 Bridge Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
Development Watch: 388 Bridge Street [Brownstoner] P*Shark
Development Watch: 388 Bridge Street [Brownstoner] DOB