A small part of New York City will soon be up for sale.
As a result of an ongoing disagreement between the current owners of an iconic Manhattan building, the property will soon be available to the highest bidder.
The 121-year-old Flatiron building, which is currently vacant, will hit the auction block on March 22 in what is known as a partition sale — stemming from a ruling in a contentious legal battle between several of its landlords.
In January, a New York state judge issued an order allowing the auction after a 2021 lawsuit by the Sorgent Group, Jeffrey Gural’s GFP Real Estate and ABS Real Estate Partners, which together own 75% of the building. allow to proceed, The Real Deal first reported.
The co-owners sued after reaching an impasse with Nathan Silverstein, who owns 25% of the steel-framed 175 Fifth Avenue building, which was completed in 1902 and is the namesake for the surrounding neighborhood.
Because of the joint ownership of the building, which gives each owner veto power over every decision in the building, the parties were not only unable to agree but also unable to move forward—a very difficult question over the future of a very expensive real estate. Caught in a costly stalemate. property
The situation became untenable after Macmillan Publishers – which at the time occupied all 21 floors of the triangular structure – announced in 2017 that it would move out within two years.
Silverstein later proposed a series of “offensive” ideas to Gurl, including that no upgrades be made in the time period between McMillan’s departure and the arrival of a new tenant—despite the fact that The upgrades were legally required to re-rent the structure. According to an affidavit, Gural said, fire protection.
Despite the building being landmarked, Silverstein also had the idea of dividing the property into separate lots — an impossibility due to its historic status, Gural wrote, The Real Deal reported.
“It boggles the mind to suggest that we could nevertheless agree on a plan to physically divide this building into five smaller, independent properties, none of which would be salable – and then this plan’ can agree on how the work will be financed,” Gural wrote in the affidavit. “We have tried over the years to resolve these differences with Mr. Silverstein, but the defendant has delayed, resisted and ultimately refused to agree to the plaintiff’s proposed business plan.”
Silverstein, meanwhile, claims that Newmark failed to market the property when McMillan announced it was leaving, and then Gural offered “an unusually low price per square foot” and gave Notal a very long lease. Tried to rent space for contract, owned by Barry Gossin of Newmark. significant stake in
“The proposed rental agreement would have locked the property into an unprofitable lease for a long period of time,” Silverstein wrote in an affidavit.
The Sorgente-GFP-ABS group will likely bid in the auction later this month, Gural said in a previous filing, according to The Real Deal.
