The Brill Mansion is rocking again — this time with a new owner.
Bruce Flatt’s Brookfield Asset Management has transferred control of the former big band jazz haven in Midtown to its lender, family-owned and operated Mack Real Estate Group. Estate Group), the deal was valued at $216.1 million.
The transaction was a transfer at the entity level, meaning Mike bought the LLC that owned the property, not the property itself. The deal was first reported by Pincus. Mack provided $145 million in consolidated mortgage loans in 2018.
Brookfield acquired the building for $213.2 million in 2017 after foreclosing on a $60 million mezzanine loan. Previous owners were Allied Partners, Brockman & Associates, New York-based Conway Capital and an Israeli pension fund. They had hoped to lease the retail space to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant, but the deal didn’t materialize.
The Brill Building at 1619 Broadway has a long and storied history in music and popular culture. After opening in 1931, the property became a center for big-band jazz creations, charting for Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and the Tommy Dorsey Jazz Ensemble.
This is just the beginning. By the late 1950s, the music had become so synonymous with popular music that the subgenre became known as “Brill Building Sound.” Fusing pop with Latin influences, examples include Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover,” Neil Sedaka’s “Calendar Girl,” and Connie Francis’ “Stupid Cupid.”
Musicians based in the Brill Building include Liza Minnelli, the Ronettes, Shangri-Las, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and Dionna Warwick. The building is also home to many record labels. In 2010, it was designated as a landmark building.
Today, the distinctive Art Deco Brill Building is an 11-story retail-cum-office building with 24 units and 158,000 square feet. The underlying retail tenant is CVS.
Both Brookfield and Mack Property Group declined to comment.
