Virtu Financial's Vincent Viola Buys Jehovah's Witnesses' Dormitory In Brooklyn Heights
Virtu Financial founder and CEO Vincent Viola—owner of the NHL's Florida Panthers—has snapped up the latest piece of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Brooklyn portfolio, paying $105M for a dormitory in Brooklyn Heights.
The building, at 124 Columbia Heights, is about 150k SF and Vincent purchased it as a private investor, The Real Deal reports.
That leaves just two other buildings left for sale in the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ portfolio: their current world HQ at 25-30 Columbia Heights and the building at 85 Jay St in Dumbo.
The massive 733k SF Watchtower HQ, with its iconic red-lettered sign, reportedly saw bids from some of the city’s biggest landlords last month. Kushner Cos, LIVWRK and RFR Realty are also reportedly looking at the 85 Jay St site, in addition to the HQ.
The Witnesses have been selling off their Brooklyn holdings for the past few years ahead of a move to establish a new world headquarters upstate in Warwick, NY. The biggest deal to come out of the selloff was the purchase of five industrial buildings and a hotel for $375M by a JV of LIVWRK, Invesco, RFR and Jared Kushner in 2013. [TRD]
