A sidewalk bridge arrived back on Thursday to surround the soon-to-be-former Bloom 62 on Avenue B and Fifth Street.
Ben Shaoul, president of Magnum Real Estate Group, is in the process of redeveloping the rental property into a condoplex called Liberty Toye. (Read my post on this here.)
There's nothing on file with the DOB yet to shed any light on what work is going to take place here. (There is a permit for the sidewalk bridge.)
Shaoul recently announced that he will accept Bitcoin for Liberty Toye, where units will run between $700,000 and $1.5 million.
Per CNBC:
"Initially, we expect to see a small number of sales in bitcoins. But over the next five or 10 years, I could see up to 25 percent of payments happening in bitcoin or a like digital currency.
"It's going to be the future," he continued, "and a lot of developers will start to adapt and offer the same option."
Shaoul was also featured in this Global Mansion article on cryptocurrency in the global real-estate market.
"Our buyer has evolved, they've moved from mom and pops to young people who want to pay with various forms of payment. Cryptocurrency is something that has been asked of us — 'Can you take cryptocurrency? Can we pay that way?' — and of course when somebody wants to pay you with a different form of payment, you're going to try to work with them and give them what they want, especially in a very busy real estate market."
Shaoul ... admits that there is currently a lot of inventory in the market, and therefore having an edge over his competitors is especially key. Bitcoin, he hopes, will be that edge.
"I think the demographic of the crypto user is a younger millennial, but, that being said, you have a lot of people come over from other countries, who are buyers from different places, who like to trade in different types of currency. Not everyone wants to trade in dollars or yen or euros," Shaoul said.
And he claims there is already a lot of interest in Liberty Toye, though not necessarily from current renters or NYC residents.
Since he announced that he’ll accept bitcoin for purchases in his East Village project a few days ago, Mr. Shaoul said he’s received dozens of emails and calls expressing interest from overseas buyers in China and other Asian countries.
The Liberty Toye office will be at 44 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street in a former laundromat owned by Steve Croman.
Before becoming a place for wealthy overseas buyers, the building at Fifth Street was home to Cabrini, which closed for good on June 30, 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. Cabrini opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 people. Shaoul reportedly paid $25 million for the property and closed down Cabrini.
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'
1st signs of Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 going condo on Avenue B?
