While the gut renovation of the 6-story building on the NW corner of Houston and B continues, a listing for the property is active.
Some details:
• Building is currently being gut renovated and is near completion.
• The building consists of 10 free market apartments ( 5 two bedrooms, 5 three bedrooms) & a ground floor retail space.
• Retail store is approximately 1500 sf with 14-foot ceiling heights.
No mention of a price.
An LLC linked to Penn Capital South, whose portfolio includes multiple EV properties, bought the building in February. According to public records, the building changed hands for just $1.05 million. However, the new owners also had to pay $4.2 million in real property transfer and real estate transfer taxes.
This was one of the abandoned buildings owned by the estate of the mysterious team of Arthur and Abraham Blasof, both long deceased. However, No. 6 has been generating some income with the cell-phone towers on the roof.
The liquor store in the retail space closed when the owner passed away in the fall of 2009 at age 89. (Chico created the tribute to her on the gate in February 2010.)
As we've pointed out (here and here), the building was in dismal shape and needed significant work to bring it up to code. Before the renovations, the DOB had cited No. 6 for emergency repairs several times in recent years.
Can these really be free-market units?
ReplyDeleteNo one has lived there in over a decade. How can they not be?
DeleteNot very big 2 and 3 bed units when the 1500 sq ft floorplate is divided between the two... Plus there's also stairwell and hallway on each floor to consider
ReplyDeleteSarah - You think someone would invest millions for charity? I guess you would have preferred it remained vacant for another 30 years...
ReplyDeleteYou can't destabilize units just by not renting them out for a while! If anything, not having anyone living there means they couldn't have been luxury decontrolled when that was still possible, so that's at least one way they couldn't have exited destabilization.
ReplyDeleteGodamit! I hate this particular kind of use of floor-to-ceiling windows!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it's what we have to put up with due to the shit scourge of F Grade level graffiti vandals.
"You think someone would invest millions for charity? I guess you would have preferred it remained vacant for another 30 years..."
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about? This is the law in NYC. If rent stabilization applies (not certain), it's not optional or a matter of the landlord's grace. This is not Florida or wherever you're posting from, and we don't all eagerly line up to be exploited in hopes of being able to exploit in turn someday.
it's a policy failure that this building was allowed to be abandoned for ten years in the middle of one of the most housing-crunched neighborhoods in the country.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how they might tackle the Houston facing side of the retail here. That makes a lot of sense... Otherwise continues to be someone's home.
ReplyDeleteI talked to the homeless guy who used to live under the scaffold and he told me that when he was camped out there, the owner of the building used to harass him constantly, threatening him if he didn’t move and siccing the police and Sanitation on him all the time. He told me that the guy was an older gentleman who appeared to be driving an Uber for a living, at least he would pull up driving a car with TLC plates. For what it’s worth.
ReplyDelete