Besen & Associates Sells Loft Buildings for $9.5m ($460/s.f.)

Besen & Associates Sells Loft Buildings at 150-152 East 23rd Street for $9,500,000

First Sale in Over Fifty Years

October 3, 2009 – Larry Stryker, Director at Besen & Associates, has just closed the sale of two adjacent loft buildings located at 150-152 East 23rd Street for $9,500,000. Located in the Gramercy neighborhood of Manhattan, the property occupies fifty feet of frontage along East 23rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenues. The buildings are 3-story & 6-story retail/office mixed use properties with 20,646 existing s.f. and 28,714 s.f. of usable air rights.
The properties were sold by the owners of Vercesi Hardware, which has occupied the retail portion of the buildings since 1911. They first rented the ground floor space in 152 in 1911, and later bought the building in 1946. They subsequently bought 150 East 23rd in 1956. They later broke through and combined the ground floors of both buildings to create one retail space for the store on the ground and second floors of approximately 9,000 square feet.

At a selling price of $9,500,000, the price per built square foot is $460 and the price per buildable square foot equates to $192. The ground floor retail and the 2nd floor in both of the buildings are to be vacated shortly after closing and have an estimated market rent of $100/sf and $45/sf respectively. The remaining floors have average office rents of $22.32/sf with market rents closer to $35/sf in the area. The new owner intends to re-tenant the available retail and office space in the near term and re-develop the entire property for residential use upon more favorable market conditions.
The Property is situated right next door to Baruch College and is within close proximity of several educational institutions such as the School of Visual Arts. It is also a single avenue away from the 23rd Street subway station on the 6 train. A brand new residential building now used by NYU for student housing is located across the street on the northwest corner of East 23rd Street and Third Avenue.

The buildings have ceiling heights from 14 to 16 feet on upper floors, and as high as 20 feet on the ground floor (of 152 E23rd). C2-8A zoning allows for various development opportunities including residential, hotel & office projects.