Report: Ben Shaoul sells Liberty Toye/Bloom 62 on Avenue B for $85 million

[EVG photo from April]

Ben Shaoul's deal to sell his residential conversion at 62 Avenue B at Fifth Street is apparently official.

The Real Deal reported last evening that Bronx-based investor Martin Shapiro bought Shaoul’s Liberty Toye/Bloom 62 apartment building for $85 million. Shapiro plans to keep it as rentals.

This officially ends Shaoul's nearly seven tumultuous years owning the former Cabrini Nursing Center, which shut down in June 2012. The 240-bed center — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. Shaoul reportedly paid $25 million for the property and closed down Cabrini.

Apartments at the new Bloom 62 — "the right place to plant your roots" — arrived in the spring of 2013, with prices topping out at $7,600 for a four-bedroom apartment. Despite the upgrades, some people thought that the units still looked like nursing home rooms, though with better lighting.

Under Shaoul's watch, the rental building gained a reputation for its rooftop DJ parties that annoyed neighbors. Shaoul finally cracked down on the ragers in the summer of 2015.

Shaoul attempted to sell the building several times — $72 million in 2014 ... and $80 million in 2015.

Last November, Shaoul decided to go condo with the property, renaming the building Liberty Toye, and renting a sales office from convicted felon Steve Croman.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

A look at the 'Hip young crowd planting roots at Bloom 62'

Have you heard the rooftop parties at Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62? (52 comments)

Ben Shaoul looks to make a whole lot of money converting nursing home into high-end housing

More details on Ben Shaoul's condo conversion Liberty Toye, where you can buy with bitcoins

Sales underway for Ben Shaoul's Liberty Toye — at the 'crossroads that cradled the Culture of Cool'

Ben Shaoul owes Steve Croman some back rent on Avenue B

In recent months, 44 Avenue B was in use as a sales office for Liberty Toye, Ben Shaoul's condo conversion a few blocks away at Fifth Street.

In early May, The Real Deal reported that Shaoul was in contract to sell the former nursing home for $85 million. The Liberty Toye sales office was vacated around that time.

Now, as several EVG readers have pointed out, there are legal documents taped to the empty storefront between Third Street and Fourth Street ... stating that Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group owes the rent dating back to March...





The Five Day Notice from the landlord, Steve Croman's 9300 Realty, shows that Shaoul owes the $9,300 base rent for March through June ... for a total of $41,345.91...



Shaoul has until Friday to pay or "surrender up the possession of said premises to the Landlord," the recently-released-from-prison Croman.

Shaoul and Croman are among the downtown landlords that elected officials, tenant advocates and residents often cite as the most aggressive in harassing tenants, as multiple published reports have noted through the years (here ... here ... here ... and here, as examples).

In 2012, Shaoul reportedly paid $25 million for the 240-bed Cabrini Nursing Center — which provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village — and eventually closed it down for use as a residential building.

No word on who the new buyer is for 62 Avenue B.

Sales office vacated as Ben Shaoul reportedly sells Liberty Toye; building to return to rentals

Workers yesterday stripped away the Liberty Toye signage from the sales office with tinted glass at 44 Avenue B as rumors circulated that developer Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate sold the nursing home-turned-residential building down the block.

The Real Deal reported yesterday that Shaoul was in contract to sell the condo conversion at Fifth Street and Avenue B for $85 million. The 81-unit building hit the sales market — bitcoin accepted! — as condos back in November, complete with a new name (Liberty Toye taking over for Bloom 62) and paint job.

Per The Real Deal:

Sources said Magnum now plans to withdraw the offering plan from the New York state Attorney General’s office and return deposits to buyers who’ve gone into contract. The property is expected to continue to operate as a rental, sources said.

At least 14 units are in contract, according to StreetEasy, ranging from a studio last asking $675,000 to a two-bedroom that was asking $1.55 million.

So this will apparently end Shaoul's nearly seven tumultuous years owning the former Cabrini Nursing Center, which shut down in June 2012. The 240-bed center — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. Shaoul reportedly paid $25 million for the property and closed down Cabrini.


[Photo from 2014]

Apartments at the new Bloom 62 — "the right place to plant your roots" — arrived in the spring of 2013, with prices topping out at $7,600 for a four-bedroom apartment. Despite the upgrades, some people thought that the units still looked like nursing home rooms, though with better lighting.

Under Shaoul's watch, the rental building gained a reputation for its rooftop DJ parties that annoyed neighbors. Shaoul finally cracked down on the ragers in the summer of 2015.

Shaoul attempted to sell the building several times — $72 million in 2014 ... and $80 million in 2015.


[April 2018]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

A look at the 'Hip young crowd planting roots at Bloom 62'

Have you heard the rooftop parties at Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62? (52 comments)

Ben Shaoul looks to make a whole lot of money converting nursing home into high-end housing

Ben Shaoul is selling Bloom 62 for $73 million — all cash!

1st signs of Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 going condo on Avenue B?

More details on Ben Shaoul's condo conversion Liberty Toye, where you can buy with bitcoins

Ahoy! It's Liberty Toye!

The building banner arrived last Thursday for Liberty Toye, the former nursing home and Bloom 62 apartment complex that Ben Shaoul is converting into a condoplex.


[Photo from 2014]

Sales got underway here on Avenue B and Fifth Street last November at the 81-unit building. Prices range from $660K to $1.8 million for buyers who may use Bitcoin for the purchase. Shaoul's sales team is renting an office at 44 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street...



The Liberty Toye website lists 11 available units.

The site describes the neighborhood like this:

Creative energy runs through the East Village like a buzzing electrical current. Since the ’70s, a groundswell of artists, musicians, and iconoclasts put the neighborhood—and New York City—on the map as the place to be. It’s the birthplace of punk, the hub of counterculture, the lightning rod for the city’s kinetic spark. Today, elements of the neighborhood’s history mix with new hotspots that carry the torch.

The 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation closed for good in June 2012 after Shaoul purchased the building ... eventually converting it into apartments. Bloom 62 started renting in May 2013. Prices topped out at $7,600 for a four-bedroom apartment.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

A look at the 'Hip young crowd planting roots at Bloom 62'

1st signs of Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 going condo on Avenue B?

More details on Ben Shaoul's condo conversion Liberty Toye, where you can buy with bitcoins

Sales underway for Ben Shaoul's Liberty Toye — at the 'crossroads that cradled the Culture of Cool'