A 150-unit luxury rental tower in Williamsburg has changed hands for $122.5 million, with New York City-based investor and developer Mann Group emerging as the buyer of 130 Hope Street. The building, completed by Clipper Equity in 2023 and originally dubbed Casa Hope, comes with one-bedroom units starting at $4,700 a month and a 35-year 421-a tax abatement that developers can no longer get for new construction.
The sale was reported by Commercial Observer, which credited Rosewood Realty Group with brokering the deal on behalf of the seller. Alex Fuchs represented the seller and arranged the buyer alongside Aaron Jungreis and Ben Khakshoor, all of Rosewood Realty Group. Fuchs told the outlet that “Williamsburg continues to be one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Brooklyn,” and said the sale “reflects strong demand for new construction properties across the boroughs.”
Neither Clipper Equity nor Mann Group immediately responded to requests for comment, according to the same report. Clipper Equity, led by veteran developer David Bistricer, holds a substantial Brooklyn residential portfolio that includes Tower 77, a 766-unit Greenpoint complex tied to a Greenpoint shooting Hoodline covered in August, along with Parkside BK in Prospect Park South.
A Tax Break Nobody Can Get Anymore
The appeal of 130 Hope Street goes beyond its location, which sits one block east of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The property's 35-year 421-a abatement is a grandfathered asset: the program officially stopped accepting new construction starts in June 2022 and was succeeded by the 485-x program in 2024, according to MGNY Consulting. That timing has made existing buildings with long-term 421-a exemptions increasingly scarce and desirable for investors looking to hold down operating costs for decades.
Under that abatement, 43 of the residential units at 130 Hope Street are set aside as affordable housing for households earning 130 percent of the area median income, per prior reporting from Commercial Observer around Clipper Equity's earlier financing of the property. Fuchs noted that buyers benefit from decades of low property taxes paired with a mainly free-market building, since the bulk of the 150 units are market-rate. Under state Real Property Tax Law, those market-rate units remain subject to rent stabilization during the benefit period, while the affordable units stay rent-stabilized for at least 35 years, according to New York's Homes and Community Renewal agency.
It remains unclear whether Mann Group secured new permanent debt to close the $122.5 million purchase or instead assumed Clipper Equity's existing $85 million loan from Valley National Bank, which had replaced earlier construction financing from Bank Leumi when Clipper Equity refinanced the property in December 2023. How the new ownership will manage ongoing rent-stabilization compliance across the 43 income-restricted units is also an open question.
Mann Group's Return to the Neighborhood
This is not Mann Group's first Williamsburg transaction. In September 2023, Eric Mann's firm sold two adjacent mixed-use and retail properties at 157-161 Wythe Avenue to Empire State Realty Trust for $26.4 million, having originally acquired those properties in 2019 for $8.5 million. That prior sale established Mann Group's history of executing major commercial deals in the neighborhood before pivoting to acquire a large rental asset with 130 Hope Street.
Williamsburg's Institutional Buying Spree
The 130 Hope Street deal lands amid a broader wave of institutional investment in Williamsburg rentals throughout 2026. Delshah Capital, led by Michael Shah, has been especially active: the firm bought the 142-unit rental building at 34 Berry Street from LCOR for $76 million in April, backed by $62.3 million in financing from Ares, according to The Real Deal. Delshah also participated in a larger Williamsburg acquisition sweep in July totaling $127.8 million, which included buying 227 Grand Street from Hutton Capital.
That followed Delshah's $85M Grand Street play in June, when the firm acquired two mixed-use rental properties on Grand Street — including 456 Grand Street for $39.5 million — spending $85.3 million total with a $60.5 million loan from Prospect Ridge. Rosewood Realty Group also closed a second new construction sale in Williamsburg during the same quarter, Fuchs noted.
Institutional appetite for the neighborhood's multifamily assets has shown up in other recent deals, too. In April, Witnick Real Estate Partners sold a 43-unit apartment building at 525 Union Avenue for $38 million, netting an estimated $11 million gain after buying it just three years earlier. Average rents across Brooklyn reached $3,935 a month in mid-2026, with studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom prices climbing between 3.8 and 6.6 percent year-over-year, according to MNS Real Estate — a backdrop that helps explain why buildings like 130 Hope Street, with rents already anchored above $4,700 for a one-bedroom, are drawing this level of investor interest.
