Facing a Daunting Market, a Luxury Brooklyn Condo Pivots to Rentals

In 2016, just before New York’s high-end condominium market began to buckle under the weight of its unsold inventory, a developer and design architect named Avery Hall Investments purchased a plot of land a stone’s throw from Borough Hall in the heart of downtown Brooklyn, N.Y.

“It was abundantly clear to us that if we could amass all the air rights on the city block, we could create a tower that was four-sided, with views, light, and air in perpetuity,” says Avi Fisher, a founding partner of Avery Hall. “So after we acquired the main parcel, we spent about a year and a half aggregating all the excess air rights.”