It seems like the Dermot Cos. can’t get enough of the BAM Cultural District. Yesterday the firm closed on the purchase of 25 Lafayette Avenue, the apartment building across the street from BAM that houses Viennese restaurant Thomas Beisl, for just over $7 million. The deal was recorded in city records almost simultaneously with Dermot’s separate, $28 million purchase of a parking lot between Flatbush, Fulton and Rockwell Place a couple blocks away. Last week the company announced it had partnered with Grosvenor Investment Management to buy the development site, where it plans to build a high-rise rental. The latest deal for 25 Lafayette means Dermot now controls three primo properties around BAM, including One Hanson/the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower (see the map on the jump). Far as we know, the BAM Cultural District plans don’t call for redevelopment activity at 25 Lafayette, and Dermot’s plans for the site are a mystery. Given the number of tenants in place at the building and the fact that it would be hard to build anything much bigger (it’s only underbuilt by 11,000 square feet) without cutting a deal with Bruce Ratner who owns the parking lot behind it at 622 Fulton Street, we’re betting this is a longer-term buy-and-hold play a la its recent acquisition of 260 St. James Place. Anyone know different? Dermot declined to comment on the purchase.
Dermot Plans High-Rise Rental Near BAM [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark
BAM Cultural District: Full-Speed Ahead [Brownstoner]