Blackstone’s Purchase of Stuy Town Includes $625M in Air Rights

Photo via Wiki Commons

Less than three months ago, the Blackstone Group and Ivanhoe Cambridge’s colossal purchase of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village went public. At the time, it was revealed that as part of the $5.46 billion deal Blackstone would reserve 4,500 of the complex’s 11,200 apartments for middle-income families for the next 20 years, with an additional 200 units set aside for low-income tenants. But what’s just come to light is the $625 million worth of air rights that came along with the buy. The majority of the roughly one million square feet will be transferred elsewhere, but about 250,000 square feet will remain within Stuy Town. As the Post first reported, “These include 200,000 square feet for a community facility, 25,000 square feet for residential and 25,000 square feet for commercial use.”

Sources from Blackstone have already said this won’t change their commitment to not build anything else on the complex, noting that the deed filings were made to divide up the air rights between different entities. The sites to which the bulk will be transferred haven’t yet been identified, but depending on the location, they could go for $500 or more per foot. Any of these plans will have to go through the ULURP process, so the public will be made aware.

[Via NYP]

RELATED:

• Blackstone Buys Stuy Town for $5.3 Billion, Will Preserve Affordable Housing
• NYC Trying to Preserve Low Rents in Stuy Town, Asks CWCapital Asset Management to Hold Off on Sale
• And the Cycle Continues: Stuy Town Ownership to Change Hands Again