7-unit UWS rental owned for 61 years sells for $5.3M

The entity CPW Property Management LLC paid $5.3 million to the Cadenhead family for the seven-unit residential walkup building (C5) at 36 West 89th Street in Upper West Side, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on May 21, 2025 and was recorded on June 13, 2025. The property has 6,346 square feet of built space and 583 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 6,924 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $835 and the price per buildable square foot is $765 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The signatory for the Cadenhead family was Julie Pars Cadenhead. The contract date was April 15, 2025. Ian Cadenhead and this then-wife Edith Cadenhead bought the building on April 14, 1966. They divorced and Ian then married Julie Pars Cadenhead, the seller. The Cadenheads have owned the building for 61 years. The buyer, CPW Property Management LLC, is affiliated with Margaret Chian Gao of Connecticut.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Margaret Chian Gao purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $7.3 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Julie Pars Cadenhead had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Ian Cadenhead, head officer and Julie Cadenhead, joint owner.

The property

The residential walkup building with 7 residential units in Upper West Side has 6,346 square feet of built space and 583 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 6,924 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 20 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,013 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 15 of the 28 commercial properties representing 291,910 square feet of the 400,326 square feet. The largest owner is Goddard Riverside, followed by Stephen Spahn and then Mark Militana.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 38 percent of the 400,326 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 37 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Margaret Chian Gao owned at least two commercial properties with 14 residential units in New York City with 12,041 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, all identified are walkup properties. They are all located in Manhattan.

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