Bruce Ratner acquires rental building in Clinton Hill; company also bought Williamsburg building

OK, Forest City Enterprises/Forest City Ratner may be slowing down development, but there is still room for strategic purchases in the Brooklyn market, which, according to a recent analysis by real estate company, is the least affordable place to buy a home in the country. 

(If average wage earners in Brooklyn must spend 123.5% of their wages to buy a median priced home--while the national average is 36.3%--they obviously need savings or family assistance.)

The Real Deal reported, in Bruce Ratner makes multifamily bet with $24M BK rental, that the Forest City Ratner Chairman bought a 38,000-square-foot, 36-unit elevator building at 105 Grand Avenue in Clinton Hill, just north of Myrtle Avenue and not far from the Pratt Institute campus.

The building opened in 2012.  That's an $8 million profit Springhouse Partners, which bought it in 2012 from the original developer.

The Williamsburg deal

The Real Deal reported:

In March, an affiliate of Forest City Ratner bought the 72-unit Williamsburg Social building at 250 Bedford Avenue for $55 million. Sources at the time had denied that Ratner was the buyer, though the deed featured his signature.

Why the misdirection? In its earlier coverage, the Real Deal reported:

While the documents bear the signature of Forest City Ratner executive chair Bruce Ratner and feature Forest City Ratner’s Downtown Brooklyn headquarters as the buyer’s address, sources said the buyer of the five-story building at 250 Bedford Avenue is neither Ratner nor his company, but a private individual affiliated with Forest City Ratner.

I think "sources" mean spokespeople for Ratner who don't want to be identified. By the way, the location is right near the new Whole Foods and Apple Store.

And, let's not forget, as I reported last year, Forest City Enterprises acquired the 77-unit 500 Sterling in Western Crown Heights.