Nobody has bet heavier on the transformation of the Gowanus Canal from a low-slung industrial trench into a canyon of brick apartment towers than Sam Charney and Nicholas Silvers. The Charney-Tavros partnership wired $29.5 million—exactly $200 per buildable square foot—to acquire the 147,500-square-foot development site at 498 President Street out of the All Year liquidation trust. When the deed closed on February 23, 2026, Charney Companies (Sam Charney) and Tavros Holdings (Nicholas Silvers) had officially taken down 498 President Street from All Year Management Liquidation Trust for $29.5 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 $200 a square foot—or $178,788 a door across its 165 apartments— across 147,500 square feet, the closing price marks a 22.9 percent step-up over the $24 million basis recorded in July 2018. In today's five-borough construction market, buying modern or well-maintained brick at $200 a square foot still beats the time and cost of digging a foundation from scratch.
Josh Zegen's Madison Realty Funds the Land Bank
The real tell in any Brooklyn closing sits on the debt side of the ledger. To fund the purchase, Charney Companies (Sam Charney) and Tavros Holdings (Nicholas Silvers) locked in a $18.5 million pre-development & land acquisition bridge loan from Madison Realty Capital (Josh Zegen) at 62.7 percent loan-to-value.
That loan commitment meant the buyers only needed to write a $11 million equity check to control a 12-story, 1931-vintage Gowanus asset. Credit committees aren't stretching to 75 percent leverage anymore, but when a sponsor brings $11 million of real cash equity and a basis of $200 a square foot, lenders like Madison Realty Capital are wide open for business.
From Our Desk
When we look at 498 President 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. Charney Companies (Sam Charney) and Tavros Holdings (Nicholas Silvers) didn't try to fight the tape—they bought Gowanus footage at $200 a square foot and paired it with the exact lender bucket built for this business plan. At $200 per buildable foot in Gowanus with Madison Realty Capital providing day-one land leverage, Charney and Tavros are locking up the canal's last full-block parcels before construction starts rebound.