The construction fencing going back up along Broadway in South Williamsburg signals the end of a saga nearly a decade in the making. The site at 159 Broadway, once envisioned as a 26-story hotel and condo tower, is being rebuilt as a much shorter 12-story rental building with 99 apartments, and crews are now preparing to resume work after years of dormancy.
The redesign, from architecture firm Stonehill Taylor and developer Joyland Management, scales the project down to 125 feet from its original 277-foot height, according to New York YIMBY. The building will span 107,211 square feet and include 9,065 square feet of community facility space along with 16,249 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, per the outlet's reporting. Joyland is developing the project under the entity One Fifty Nine B LLC, with financing provided by Levon NY CXXVI LLC.
It is a remarkable pivot for a site that once carried much grander ambitions. Former developer Cornell Realty Management, led by Isaac Hager, purchased the property in 2017 for $26.3 million with plans for a 235- to 251-key hotel combined with 21 condos, according to The Real Deal. Stonehill Taylor designed that earlier 26-story version too, before the project stalled after initial foundation work began in 2019.
A Foreclosure Fight and a Bankruptcy Filing
Things went sideways fast. Junior mezzanine lender Bluestone Group triggered a UCC foreclosure auction in September 2020 over a $3.5 million loan on the property, and Hager responded by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that December to halt the foreclosure, the real estate outlet's reporting shows. The bankruptcy case dragged on for nearly two years before it reached a court-approved resolution.
That resolution arrived in November 2022, when senior lender Madison Realty Capital acquired the site through bankruptcy court in a transaction valued at $32 million, using its existing senior debt to take control. Madison Realty had originally issued a $28 million senior mortgage on the project back in 2019, according to the same account. The lender held onto the property for roughly three years before finally selling it in January 2026.
Joyland Steps In With a Very Different Vision
That buyer was Joyland Management, founded by Joel Wertzberger, who also operates holding company Hamilton Eastman overseeing a New York City real estate portfolio valued at over $900 million. Property records show Joyland completed the $30 million purchase of 159 Broadway through the entity Broadway Corner Bedford LLC in January 2026, per Traded. The firm has been active elsewhere too, having picked up 254 West 35th Street in Manhattan for $26.2 million in February.
Construction financing followed a few months later. Borough Developers principals Mendel Berkowitz and David Tabak secured a $23.5 million construction loan from Valley National Bank for the project in May, unlocking the restart that neighbors are now seeing play out on the sidewalk. Crews have already installed new metal fencing and construction barriers along the block.
What the New Building Will Look Like
The redesigned structure carries a rectangular massing with a setback running across the entire seventh story on its main southern elevation, and it cantilevers over the neighboring building to the west. The facade mixes five red-brick protruding volumes with arched fenestrations alongside earth-toned brick surrounding large industrial-style windows, and the ground floor will feature transom windows lining the street at basement level. A centered residential entrance sits beneath a metal canopy, and numerous balconies with glass railings wrap the exterior.
Inside, the 99 rental units will average 827 square feet, and residents will have access to a lobby, fitness center, communal rooftop terrace, bike storage room, and lounge. Completion is anticipated for winter 2028.
Landmarked Neighbor Made the Bigger Building Possible
Much of the original project's scale traced back to a deal with the building next door. Cornell Realty Management had expanded the site's buildable envelope by acquiring air rights from the adjacent landmarked Williamsburgh Dime Savings Bank, a tool commonly used near historic landmarks to assemble additional floor area, according to 6sqft. That landmarked 151-year-old bank building, positioned directly east of 159 Broadway, was designed in Classical Revival style by architect George B. Post and completed in 1875. According to a June 19, 2018 notice in The City Record, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh in Brooklyn Community Board 1.
The site itself sits between Bedford and Driggs avenues, south of the elevated roadways connecting to the Williamsburg Bridge. The elevated Marcy Avenue station, served by the J, M, and Z trains, sits just east of the development.
Betting on Rentals Over Hotel Rooms
Williamsburg ranks among Brooklyn's most expensive residential submarkets, with median asking base rents reaching $4,750 a month — more than 30 percent above Brooklyn's borough-wide median of $3,600, according to StreetEasy. Those figures describe the rental-price gap between Williamsburg and Brooklyn as a whole. According to the New York City Comptroller's March 4, 2024 comments, New York City's apartment rental market had remained stable in recent months, with asking rents steady since November 2023. According to the New York City Comptroller's June 9, 2026 budget comments, post-pandemic conversions supplemented new housing units in Manhattan.
For a site that spent years tied up in foreclosure filings, bankruptcy court, and a lender-to-lender handoff, the arrival of an actual construction loan marks a real turning point. Fencing is up, plans are locked in, and after nearly a decade of false starts, 159 Broadway finally has a path to opening its doors — just with 99 apartments instead of a hotel lobby.
