Kushner offloads another East Village portfolio for $38 million

JSB Capital Group, Holliswood Development and Edifice Partners have acquired a portfolio of six buildings in the East Village from Kushner Companies for $38 million.

Kushner has cleared neighborhood properties in recent years as it focuses on developments in New Jersey.

The walk-up portfolio includes four contiguous properties at 329, 331, 333 and 335 East 9th Street, which sold for $26.9 million, as well as two additional buildings at 516 and 518 East 13th Street, which sold for $11 million sold. The combined buildings offer 56 residential units and six retail spaces, with a total area of 49,513 square meters.

“We are in an environment that has become inhospitable,” Laurent Morali, CEO of Kushner Companies, told Crain’s. “You can expect more sales in the future.”

Kushner Companies, with Nicole Kushner Meyer now at the helm, will expand its portfolio in the Garden State. According to the Commercial Observer, the company secured $1 billion in construction financing last year, as well as a $295 million construction loan for its Jersey City project.

For Holliswood, the deal expands the young developer’s footprint in the neighborhood, bringing its total holdings to nine tax class 2A/2B buildings. It’s the developer’s biggest deal to date.

Since purchasing nearby 337 East 9th Street in 2022, Holliswood has kept an eye on the Kushner portfolio.

Holliswood focuses on tax-sheltered assets, said Ivy Li, real estate development assistant at Holliswood. “Tax Class 2B buildings provide protection against the unpredictability of future New York property taxes and rising operating costs,” Li said.

“Our focus remains on acquiring vacant buildings or properties with at least 65 per cent open market units, particularly those classified as tax class 2A/2B,” a Holliswood spokesperson told the Commercial Observer.