TerraCRG, Totem Venture Takes Gowanus With 400-Unit Filing
A joint venture formed by executives at two prominent real estate firms is moving forward with its next development, taking to Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood.
Ailanthus — formed by TerraCRG’s Ofer Cohen and Totem’s Vivian Liao and Tucker Reed — filed plans for a 17-story, 400-unit building at 424 Hoyt Street, the Commercial Observer reported. Ailanthus signed a ground lease with owner Two Trees Management, though terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The 175-foot tall project would include between 100 and 120 affordable housing units, a 46,000-square-foot public school and 14,000 square feet of retail space. It would replace a one-story car repair shop and a vehicle storage facility.
Two Trees, which bought the site nearly 20 years ago for $7.7 million, declined to comment to the Observer. A spokesperson for Ailanthus, meanwhile, noted that a recent report from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration identified Gowanus as a target for more affordable housing.
Cohen, Liao and Reed launched Ailanthus in May 2024, targeting the addition of 10,000 housing units over a five-year period. The firm is taking on projects at sites that are not shovel-ready and may need to go through the city’s onerous rezoning process. In an attempt to accelerate projects that need support from local City Council members, Ailanthus plans to engage heavily with the communities and elected officials with a stake in a project’s push.
At the time of launch, the firm already had a couple of projects in the pipeline, folding in a pair of Totem developments. Those projects include a 456-unit building at 1057 Atlantic Avenue in Crown Heights and a 181-unit building at 737 Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park. Overall, there were roughly 1,500 units in the pipeline at the beginning, giving Ailanthus a running start toward its goal.
There’s certainly an appetite for building in Gowanus, due mostly to a major rezoning several years ago and the environmental cleanup of the neighborhood.
In June, Charney Companies, Tavros Capital and Incoco Capital landed $785 million in financing for 175 Third Street, part of the larger Gowanus Wharf campus. The planned 27-story property will span 1.1 million square feet and feature 1,100 residential units — 25 percent of which are affordable — alongside amenities such as a Life Time fitness center and public waterfront space.
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