Charney Companies

Charney Companies is a Brooklyn-based real estate developer active across Brooklyn and Queens, with a portfolio concentrated in multifamily and mixed-use projects. The firm began assembling its Court Square site in Long Island City in 2016 alongside partner Tavros, and a 2022 land purchase by Incoco Capital doubled the parcel. The joint venture broke ground in August 2025 on a 55-story, 600-unit tower at 24-19 Jackson Avenue, financed with a $525 million construction loan and anchored by a 72,000-square-foot Chelsea Piers Fitness lease in the podium. Charney handles development, land assemblage and asset management in-house and works with outside architects and general contractors on delivery.

Charney Companies was founded in 2013 by Sam Charney and has grown to more than $3 billion in total capitalization, spanning 11 active developments, over 3.0 million square feet and roughly 3,600 units, according to figures the firm publishes on its own site.

Much of that pipeline sits along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, where Charney is developing 175 3rd Street, a roughly 1.1 million-square-foot project designed by BIG with more than 1,000 rental apartments and a canal-front public access area designed by James Corner Field Operations. Nearby, Nevins Landing North and South, two Fogarty Finger-designed towers on Nevins Street, will add a combined 654 rental units, and Douglass Port and Union Channel round out the firm’s Gowanus rental portfolio.

Charney also converts existing buildings: it acquired 99 Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, in March 2024 to redevelop the roughly 91,000-square-foot former McGiffert Hall into student housing while preserving its historic facade. In the BAM Cultural District, the firm’s 95 Rockwell condominium, also designed by Fogarty Finger, is branded in partnership with the performance venue Public Records.

Beyond development, Charney runs its own property management and brokerage arms rather than outsourcing those functions, managing completed buildings such as The Dime in Williamsburg, The Green House in Hunters Point, and The Jackson in Long Island City. The leadership team includes chief operating officer Justin Pelsinger, chief development officer and brokerage president Andrew Steiker-Epstein, head of development Rosie Tilley, and construction chief operating officer Jordan Morris, reflecting the firm’s in-house approach across acquisition, design, construction, leasing and management.