An abandoned car in an empty lot that will soon yield a 13-floor residential building

Walking on East Houston near Ridge Street, we noticed an abandoned car in the long-empty lot on the south side of the street... not sure how long it has been there...



Anyway, spotting the car served as a reminder to check in on the status of these lots. Last summer, The Lo-Down reported that an unknown buyer has purchased the two vacant lots at 327 and 329 E. Houston St. for $8.4 million, as well as two adjoining parcels at 331 E. Houston and 163 Ridge St. for another $4 million.

It's part of the portfolio that belonged to reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb.

Plans were filed in February for a 13-floor residential building with 78 units for the L-shaped 331 E. Houston St./163 Ridge St. parcel. (The DOB disapproved the first round of plans on June 14.) Records show that Stephen B. Jacobs is the architect for the project. (His firm's East Village work includes the Copper Building on Avenue B and the Village Green on East 11th Street.) Jon Halpern of "East Houston Development LLC" is listed as the owner on the DOB permits. (Halpern is a partner and head of Real Estate Investments at Marathon Real Estate Mortgage Trust.)

There are also demo permits on file for the former laundromat here...



There's nothing on record for 327 and 329 E. Houston St.

As for the car, perhaps a test run for the future parking garage here?



Previously on EV Grieve:
An L-Shaped footprint ready to make its impression on East Houston Street

Losing another Mystery Lot

Catching up with some news from late last week... The Lo-Down reported that an unknown buyer has purchased the two vacant lots at 327 and 329 E. Houston St. for $8.4 million, as well as two adjoining parcels at 331 E. Houston and 163 Ridge St. for another $4 million.

Of course, the Mystery Lot off East 14th Street/East 13th Street will soon be a new development too...

It's part of the portfolio that belonged to reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb ... The lot has been empty for seemingly eons ...

[File photos via EVG]

An L-Shaped footprint ready to make its impression on East Houston Street

In late November, the Mystery Lot of East Houston Street (the empty parcel on the south side of the street between Attorney and Ridge) hit the market, per The Lo-Down. The lot is going for $9.5 million.

Now, it appears more development is in the works for this stretch of Houston... The long-empty adjacent space is now for sale — at $4.6 million.

Here's the listing via Massey Knakal:

The subject property consists of 331 E Houston Street and 161 Ridge Street. 331 E Houston Street is a single story commercial building and 161 Ridge Street is a vacant parking lot. Together, the properties create an L-Shaped footprint with 25’ of frontage on E Houston Street and 20’ of frontage on Ridge Street. The lots have a combined footprint of 3,000 square feet and are located in the newly designated East Village/Lower East Side zoning district which is zoned R8A*. This zone provides an FAR of 5.4 for Residential use, 7.2 with inclusionary housing and 6.5 for Community Facility use which translate to a maximum buildable square footage of 16,200 BSF, 21,600 BSF, 19,500 BSF, respectively. Furthermore, the two lots are adjacent to two 25’ vacant lots on E Houston Street.

So. Combine all this and what do you get?

Unloading WIlliam Gottlieb's real-estate empire

Yesterday, the Post had a feature on William Gottlieb, the unlikely real-estate baron who died from a stroke at age 64 in 1999. His portfolio of more than 100 properties — with an esitmated value of $1 billion or so — has been locked up in a family legal battle ever since then. (You can read the article here for all that intrigue.)

Anyway, his nephew Neil Bender, 56, now has control of the properties, and has began unloading them. Properties in our area owned by the new Gottlieb empire: The Houston Street Mystery Lot that recently hit the market, as The Lo-Down reported in November, as well as 104 E. 10th St., which explains why playwrite-poet-artist Edgar Oliver is no longer living there. (Read Jeremiah's post on this address and Oliver here.)

As the Post noted, Gottlieb, who was born in Coney Island, "looked like a bum, drove a station wagon with busted windows and carried his important papers in a shopping bag." He was also a lawyer who often did repairs on his properties himself.

The article points out the sale of these assorted properties could "remake downtown in the process."

At least Gottlieb slowed down the rate of change in some neighborhoods.

"Without a doubt, had it not been for Bill Gottlieb there's a lot of buildings in the West Village and Meatpacking District that would have been torn down and replaced with sort of very generic and forgettable new construction, but instead kind of lived to face another day," Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told the paper.

For further reading:
Check out Curbed's coverage of the Gottlieb drama here.

The East Houston Street Mystery Lot is now for sale

Wanted to mention this news... we've long been curious about the Mystery Lot of East Houston Street ... the empty parcel on the south side of the street between Attorney and Ridge ... The Lo-Down had the scoop on Wednesday...

The lot is now on the market for $9.5 million ... it's part of the portfolio that belonged to reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb ...

The lot has been empty for seemingly eons ... According to the Lo-Down, Gottlieb acquired the property via public auction in 1999 for $300,000.

The mind reels with thoughts of what will show up here some day...