On the cusp of massive commercial redevelopment, the South Bronx is now viewed by many as the next Williamsburg or Long Island City.
Bolstering this outlook is the recent $165 million sale by prominent real estate investors Keith Rubenstein (Somerset Partners) and Joseph Chetrit (Chetrit Group) of two prime development sites at 101 Lincoln Avenue and 2401 Third Avenue in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Acquiring the sites, which were originally purchased by Rubenstein and Chetrit for $58 million in late 2014 and early 2015, is Brookfield Properties, the real estate investment firm known for transforming lower Manhattan's Brookfield Place into a buzzing retail and dining destination.
Todd Soloway, Chair of Pryor Cashman's Real Estate Litigation Group, who represented Rubenstein and Chetrit on the original purchase and subsequent sale of the properties, told the New York Post, "the deal is a harbinger of more to come. It's an evolution of the change in the growth of the neighborhood."
"Keith [Rubenstein] had the vision," and Brookfield now "shares that vision," he said.
Rubenstein, who owns multiple properties and businesses in the Bronx, has been incubating and investing in local retailers ranging from clothing boutiques to restaurants, coffee shops and even a boxing gym. Somerset Partners also recently leased space to The Compound, a hip-hop culture art gallery at 2422 Third Ave., co-founded by Yasiin Bey (p/k/a "Mos Def").
"I'm either opening my own [businesses] or incubating [them] and allowing them to mature and continuing to grow with them," Rubenstein told the Post.
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