Crown Heights Affordable Housing Building Sells For $30M

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A building that once housed dozens of affordable apartments recently sold for more than $30 million, according to city property records.

The 63-unit building at 781 Washington Ave., near St. Johns Place, was sold last week to Yehoshua Leib Fruchthandler, manager of family run investment firm FBE, according to public documents.

In 2021, the building sold for $22 million to Mendel Kaff.

The building once belonged to the real estate magnate Douglas Rosenberg, whose tenants sued him over allegations he tried to remove their homes from Section 8 — an affordable housing program that provides financial assistance to low income renters — without proper notice, according to the New York Post.

Ed Josephson, the lawyer who represented the tenants eight years ago, said the building successfully opted out of Section 8, despite inducements from the city and the state to remain.

Patch was unable to confirm this independently, nor reach the seller or buyer, but Josephson said the lawsuit only bought the tenants another year.

“This is one of the last affordable housing buildings in that neighborhood,” Josephson told the Post in 2014.

To Patch, Josephson added, "I hope that at least some of the tenants with vouchers are still there."

This month, a one-bedroom in the building was rented for $2,950 a month and three bedroom went for nearly $3,800, according to StreetEasy.