Joel Gluck buying Coney Island rental building for $50M

The 20-story building includes 250 apartments

2911 West 36 Street in Brooklyn
2911 West 36 Street in Brooklyn

Joel Gluck’s Spencer Equity is in contract to buy a 250-unit rental building in Coney Island for $50 million, according to documents filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Wednesday.

The 20-story building at 2911 West 36th Street spans 229,865 square feet, and includes 259 apartments and five retail units. It’s located near John Catsimatidis’ large mixed-use development on Surf Avenue.

The seller is Mayer Orbach’s New Jersey-based Orbach Group, which bought the building for $34 million in 2014.

The building is part of the federal government’s Section 8 housing program, and is under a 20-year contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which ends in 2034. The deal is contingent on the approval of HUD, and the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

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The federal agency will pay a maximum of $4.5 million a year in rent for the building, or over 95 percent of the $4.6 million the building asked in rent in 2017, according to the TASE documents. Market-rate rents in the building are estimated to be $1,118 for a studio, and $1,727 for a two-bedroom, according to data from HUD.

Gluck has been active in the Israeli bond market, having raised more than $150 million to date.

Gluck is a prolific investor and developer in Brooklyn, and a frequent partner with Simon Dushinsky’s Rabsky Group. The two are behind a contentious 1.1 million-square-foot housing complex in the Broadway Triangle, and a 36-story commercial building at 624 Fulton Street, along with other projects throughout the borough.

In November, Gluck secured $69 million to refinance his 238-unit Bronx rental plaza called Noonan Plaza.