Historic Flatiron Building to Be Converted into Condos, Owners Say

The Flatiron Building is facing some changes.

A New York landmark in midtown Manhattan will be transformed into luxury housing. The upcoming change was announced by its owners on Thursday, per The New York Times.

The Madison Park building’s future as a residential space began to take shape when the Brodsky Organization bought a stake in the building this week. The residential developer joined the building’s co-owners – GFP Real Estate, Sorgente Group, ABS Partners and investor Nathan Silverstein – to transform the triangular tower into a residential building.

The Flatiron Building. The most expensive house ever sold in New York just went for $100 million to a famous buyer

The Sorgente Group will help convert the space into apartments for purchase, according to The Real Deal.

The conversion will take three years because the owners need the consent of the Department of Urban Planning. The approval process itself could take a year, while demolition and construction could take an additional two years.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The building has a standard floor area of ​​10,600 square meters, while the total square footage is 255,000 square meters, according to GFP documents.

Because the conversion will be expensive, sources involved in other investment sales told The Messenger that prospective tenants could be charged an estimated $3,000 per square foot to make a profit or $1,600 per square foot to cover the owners.

While the first floor will remain retail space, the owners are going through various floor plans and there could be about 40 residences in total after the renovation, reports The New York Times.

The 120-year-old building has been vacant since its sole office tenant, publisher Macmillan, moved out in 2019.

The Flatiron Building.

Getty

Big Apple Buyers: New York’s Hottest Houses of Fame

But after GFP Real Estate, Sorgente Group, ABS Partners and Silverstein couldn’t decide what to do with the vacant monument, a New York Supreme Court judge ordered the building put up for sale in January, per The Independent.

Two months later, the Madison Park property was auctioned in March. Eleven bidders attended the auction, in which venture capital fund manager Jacob Garlick offered a $190 million investment but then dropped out when it came time to make a 10 percent down payment, he reported The New York Times.

Jeff Gural of GRP, the building’s majority owner, told the times a week after the auction in which Garlick overbid for the building. Before the pandemic, it was valued at more than 200 million dollars, but after the pandemic, its value dropped times reported.

Gural said on Thursday times he believed adding residences to the building was the best use in the current economic climate, adding, “There will be 40 people who will want to live in the Flatiron Building.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education