Heritage Equity Partners and Rubenstein Partners celebrate approval of mixed-use project, 25 Kent

Brooklyn, NY 25 Kent, the 480,000+ s/f mixed-use commercial and industrial facility to be built in Williamsburg, took a major step forward as the project gained approval today from the New York City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the Committee on Land Use. A development of Heritage Equity Partners and Rubenstein Partners, the eight-story newly constructed building will add class-A office space geared to the city’s creative and tech sectors, and industrial space to the available stock of manufacturing space in Brooklyn for the first time in more than a generation. "We are excited that the Committee on Land Use has voted in support of our project and look forward to Thursday’s full City Council vote on 25 Kent -- Brooklyn's first truly mixed-use building for manufacturing, creative and tech-based sectors,” said Toby Moskovits, CEO of Heritage Equity Partners.  “The building will soon move from vision to reality thanks to the leadership of councilmember Steve Levin and his colleagues in government including assemblyman Joe Lentol, borough president Eric Adams, the NYC Department of City Planning and others." The full City Council will review and vote on the item on Thursday, July 14, 2016. 25 Kent Avenue is a ground-up commercial and light industrial building planned in Williamsburg, that is now going through the city’s land-use review process known as ULURP. As proposed by joint venture partners and co-developers Heritage Equity Partners and Rubenstein Partners, the project would be one of the brought's first ground-up speculative commercial buildings in 40 years and one of the first times in generations that the private sector built light industrial space without any public investment. Conceived to serve the market demand for new office and light industrial space, the Gensler- and HWKN-designed building is envisioned as a hub for the arts, makers, and technology firms driving the city’s economy. Heritage Equity Partners is a woman-owned real estate investment and development firm specializing in mixed-use development. Since 2008, the firm has developed over two-million square feet of space, including more than 1,000 residential rental units, and well over one-million  square feet of commercial space, all in the New York metro region, with a focus on the Williamsburg and Bushwick neighborhoods of Brooklyn, as well as Long Island City, Queens. The firm’s fast-growing development portfolio is driven by CEO Toby Moskovits, along with partner Michael Lichtenstein. Moskovits’ extensive background in private equity and venture capital investment has given the company an ability to take a forward-looking view of development, pioneering neighborhoods and asset classes, utilizing a venture-based approach to development, finance, and construction. With a fresh perspective on the development industry, Heritage’s focus on the development and construction of unique contextualized buildings in some of New York's most interesting outer borough neighborhoods has positioned the firm in a leadership position in the New York real estate industry. Rubenstein Partners, founded in September 2005, is a real estate investment management and advisory firm with operations throughout the Eastern United States. The firm is led by its founder, David Rubenstein. Rubenstein Partners’ predecessor company, the Rubenstein Company, LP and affiliates, founded in 1969, was one of the largest family owned developers and operators of office real estate in the Eastern United States. Since 2005, Rubenstein Partners has, on behalf of its investors and clients, invested in more than 8,500,000 square feet of office real estate assets throughout the Eastern United States. Rubenstein and its principals have deep development expertise through the oversight and direct management of the development of millions of square feet of office space. The Rubenstein specializes in working in conjunction with local operating partner and the community to bring entrepreneurial repositionings and unique developments to completion. The firm, based in Philadelphia, has a presence across the Eastern United States with offices in New York, Boston, New Jersey, Washington DC and Atlanta.