60 luxury condos planned for the Flatiron Building
Photo by David Becker on Unsplash
More details on transforming one of New York City’s most iconic buildings into apartments were revealed this week. Developers GFP Real Estate, the Brodsky Organization, and the Sorgente Group filed plans with the city to convert the Flatiron Building into 60 residential units, as first reported by Commerical Observer. The homes could be complete by 2026, according to the Environmental Assessment Statement (EAS) filed with the Department of City Planning.
The developers’ application calls for a mixed-use building totaling nearly 205,000 gross square feet, including roughly 200,000 gross square feet for residences and the remaining for ground-floor commercial retail space. The Flatiron Building could hold up to 100 condominium units on floors two through 21, but the final project will likely include a total of 60 homes.
Last spring, the landmarked building was auctioned to end a dispute among its owners GFP Real Estate, Sorgente Group, ABS Real Estate Partners, and Nathan Silverstein. In 2021, the four partners sued Silverstein in hopes of a partition sale, claiming Silverstein made poor business decisions after the building’s only tenant, Macmillan Publishers, moved out in 2019, as 6sqft previously reported.
The property sold for $190 million to Jacob Garlick of Abraham Trust, who then failed to pay the required $19 million down payment by the deadline. Following a second auction in May, Jeff Gural of GFP Real Estate placed the winning bid of $161 million.
With the shift from full-time office to more remote work during Covid, several building owners are working to convert empty offices into apartments, including One Wall Street and 55 Broad Street in the Financial District. In June, Metro Loft Developers announced plans to convert the former Midtown headquarters of Pfizer at 219 and 235 East 42nd Street into a 1,500-unit rental, the city’s largest such conversion to date.
Flatiron neighbors like 141 Fifth Avenue, 212 Fifth Avenue, 10 Madison Square West, and the Sohmer Piano Building at 170 Fifth Avenue are all commercial buildings that have been converted to condos within the last two decades.
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