Manhattan-based landlord Walter & Samuels has unloaded a troubled East Village parking garage, which now seems poised to become luxury housing.
The firm, which is headed by chairman David Berley, has sold 220 E. Ninth St., a 5-story beige-brick structure near Third Avenue that has been closed since an inspection uncovered structural problems in spring 2023. The city ordered the inspection following the deadly collapse of a Financial District garage that was operated by the same company that ran No. 220.
Arcus Development, a firm headed by Roger Bittenbender, who has previously crafted houses in the Hudson Valley and condos in SoHo, bought the site for $14 million. When reached by phone, Bittenbender declined to comment.
But Berley, whose firm also this month shed 225 W. 39th St., a struggling office building in the Garment District, said the deal didn’t require much deliberation. “The parking company got in trouble with the city, and then we were approached by a broker,” he said.
According to the city register, Berley, who frequently invests with partners, acquired the 22,500-square-foot midblock site in the late 1970s. Arnold Penner, a major real estate investor and an owner of the popular Midtown eatery P.J. Clarke’s, appears to have once controlled a stake in No. 220 alongside Berley, property records show. Penner died in July.
Walter & Samuels has holdings across the city but is probably best known for older side-street commercial structures in the Garment District and Chelsea. These Class B and Class C sites generally had little trouble finding tenants in the years after Berley invested in them in the 1960s and 1970s, he has said, but have been saddled with empty floors during the Covid era.
The firm is also stressed after vigorously embracing WeWork as it rushed to set up coworking spaces across the city. Indeed, Walter & Samuels installed WeWork locations at addresses including 315 W. 36th St., 410 Park Avenue South and 130 Madison Ave, though all three sites have since been vacated. And WeWork, after filing for bankruptcy protection in the fall, is seeking to rip up many leases as it attempts to restructure, a move that would leave landlords in a major jam.
In April a garage at 57 Ann St. collapsed, killing one person, destroying dozens of cars and prompting neighborhood evacuations. The tragedy also led to mandatory inspections of city garages. After nearly 80 of them were inspected in the ensuing weeks, three were shut down in May, including No. 220. Its inspection uncovered cracked concrete, including in an elevator shaft that brought cars to the roof.
C. J. Hughes , 2024-03-27 18:40:30
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