Try finding 312,000 square feet of 32-foot-clear warehouse space anywhere in New York City where a delivery van can roll off a loading dock and hit Wall Street through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel in six minutes. Joe Sitt's Thor Equities assembled the four-and-a-half-acre Red Hook waterfront parcel in late 2019 for $41.5 million, built 41 loading docks on the harbor, and just cashed out to KKR at $186 a foot. When the deed closed on March 20, 2026, KKR Real Estate Partners Americas and Alpha Industrial Properties had officially taken down 280 Richards Street from Joe Sitt's Thor Equities for $58 million, with Cushman & Wakefield brokering the trade.
Look past the sticker price and the trade tells a clear story about replacement cost in Brooklyn. At $186 a square foot across 312,000 square feet, the closing price marks a 39.8 percent step-up over the $41.5 million basis recorded in November 2019. In today's five-borough construction market, buying modern or well-maintained brick at $186 a square foot still beats the time and cost of digging a foundation from scratch. Even better for the buyers, the in-place rent roll hands them a verified 5.70 percent going-in cap rate from day one.
Why Life-Company Money Chased Red Hook Dirt
The real tell in any Brooklyn closing sits on the debt side of the ledger. To fund the purchase, KKR Real Estate Partners Americas and Alpha Industrial Properties locked in a $37.7 million fixed-rate life-company acquisition mortgage from PGIM Real Estate at 65 percent loan-to-value.
That loan commitment meant the buyers only needed to write a $20.3 million equity check to control a 2-story, 2022-vintage Red Hook asset. Credit committees aren't stretching to 75 percent leverage anymore, but when a sponsor brings $20.3 million of real cash equity and a basis of $186 a square foot, lenders like PGIM Real Estate are wide open for business.
From Our Desk
When we look at 280 Richards Street on our placement desk at Light Tower Group, the lesson for New York sponsors comes down to the marriage of entry basis and lender selection. KKR Real Estate Partners Americas and Alpha Industrial Properties didn't try to fight the tape—they bought Red Hook footage at $186 a square foot and paired it with the exact lender bucket built for this business plan. When a conservative life insurer like PGIM writes 65 percent fixed-rate leverage on a Brooklyn warehouse, sponsors with modern last-mile bays have access to the cheapest, longest-duration balance-sheet debt in the five boroughs.