Ian Bruce Eichner Offloads Controversial Brooklyn Site For $54M
A development site near the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens that has spent years in limbo has sold for $54.3M.
Ian Bruce Eichner’s The Continuum Cos. has offloaded 970 Franklin Ave., where he painstakingly secured approval to build a 290K SF multifamily project, according to a release. Continuum bought the site in 2017 for $33M, according to city property records.
Isaac Schwartz bought the Crown Heights property — which is next to the former Spice Factory and nestled in between the Jackie Robinson Playground and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden — where he can build a 10-story, 355-unit residential building.
"We sought approval for a project with height and density that should have been approved, namely a union built, union pension fund financed rental project with substantial affordability," Eichner said in a statement. "Instead, BBG is getting what it wanted, non-union built 100% market rate condominiums in an already gentrified neighborhood, a tragedy for Crown Heights."
A JLL team of Andrew Scandalios, Ethan Stanton, Brendan Maddigan and Michael Mazzara arranged the sale. A Continuum Cos. spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
It's possible that the buyer of 970 Franklin Ave. is the same developer who bought the neighboring parcel last year.
Continuum offloaded 960 Franklin Ave. in 2022 to Isaac Hager and Daryl Hagler for $43M. Those developers sold it to another developer, Yitzchok Schwartz, for $64M in May 2024.
It’s unclear whether Yitzchock Schwartz and Isaac Schwartz are the same person — Yitzchok is the Hebrew version of the name Isaac.
Last month, Yitzchok Schwartz filed plans with the New York Attorney General’s Office to build a condo development at 960 Franklin, The Real Deal reported at the time.
Eichner had been trying to secure approval for a large project in the eight years he owned the site, but his proposals shrank over time.
Continuum had originally proposed two 39-story rental buildings, but it needed rezoning permissions to push ahead. The City Planning Commission shot the idea down in 2021 because it would cast a long shadow over the garden, causing damage to rare plant species.
Last summer, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso rejected Continuum’s second proposal for the site, a 14-story, 475-unit apartment building, on the grounds that the new proposal would still create shadows that would impact the "one-of-a-kind community resource."
Eichner argued that anything smaller wouldn’t pencil and threatened to kill the project. But he went back to the drawing board anyway, seeking approval to build a 355-unit building with 106 workforce housing units that would come with city subsidy, Crain’s New York Business reported. That project was approved in November.
UPDATE, SEPT. 17, 7:15 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to include a comment from Eichner.
