An unfinished five-story townhouse snagged a record sale for Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood.
A local developer purchased the home at 39 South Portland Avenue last year for $4.7 million, according to public records, and planned to turn it into a four-unit condominium with a total sellout of $10.6 million.
Instead, Vadem Brodsky, who had his offering plan accepted by the state attorney general’s office in March, sold the unfinished property for $8.75 million in an all-cash deal marking the priciest sale in Fort Greene.
The buyer was a limited liability corporation tied to Larry Berger, the chief executive officer of Amplify, a digital learning platform that was bought and later spun out by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
The sale beats out the previous record set by a 5,300-square-foot townhouse just one block over at 6 South Oxford Street, which sold for $7.9 million in 2022.
At $1,488 per square foot, that sale outdid the new record holder’s per foot basis of $1,365. But Scott contended that when the buyer finishes the building, “it will be irreplaceable.”
“There’s almost no five-story [building] that wide on South Portland or South Oxford,” said Douglas Elliman’s Aran Scott, pointing to what he said are the most sought-after blocks in the neighborhood.
Scott called the property “a step or two before white-box,” after Brodsky completed the demolition work and much of the electrical and plumbing.
The 22-foot-wide home spanned 6,360 square feet and had a 53-foot deep private garden, according to a prior listing.
Brodsky was also behind the borough’s priciest sale this year at 35 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights, which closed for $18.4 million in April, according to public records. That five-story turnkey home came with an elevator, a private backyard, a rooftop deck, a sauna and steam room, and the buyer was given input on finishing touches like kitchen and bathroom tile and marble.
Wealthy buyers have been flocking to townhouses in Brooklyn for much of the past year, fanning price increases amid limited inventory. In the first quarter of this year, there were 15 townhouses sold in Fort Greene for $57 million, a more than 50 percent jump from the same time last year, according to Leslie Garfield’s Brooklyn townhouse report.
But it’s unclear how much of an indication the banner sale serves about the neighborhood’s pricing, Scott said, because “there’s just not the velocity of listings of this caliber.”
“Is $10, $12 million [for a] finished product in Fort Greene achievable?” Scott asked. “I think if it’s the right location, there’s more records to be set.”
Read more
Townhouse set to smash Fort Greene price record
Brooklyn Heights townhouse asking $22M tops borough’s contracts
