ASB Capital sells office in Flatiron District for $22.8M, paid $43.8M in 2015

The entity 7 West 18th LLC by the signature of Oren Barak in care of Tarsat Prop LLC, paid $22.75 million to ASB Capital Management through the entity West 18th Street Venture, LLC for the office building (O6) at 7 West 18th Street in Flatiron District, Manhattan.
The deal closed on September 30, 2024 and was recorded on October 3, 2024. The property has 43,307 square feet of built space and 3,412 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 46,740 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $525 and the price per buildable square foot is $486 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.)
ASB Capital Management in a venture with George Comfort & Sons bought the property on December 14, 2015, for $43.8 million. At the time, the buyers noted the building was popular with creative office tenants.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that ASB Capital Management owned at least three commercial properties with 117,271 square feet, 5 residential units and a city-determined market value of $48.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 63 percent of the 117,271 square feet of built space are retail properties, with office properties next occupying 37 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
The other ASB holdings are retail buildings in SoHo. It paid $41 million for 72 Greene Street in 2012, and $41 million or 413-415 West Broadway in 2013.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 92 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,674 square feet. The zoning is C6-4A which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $12.5 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 received $1,100 in OATH penalties 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 neighborhood

In Flatiron District, The majority, or 71 percent of the 23.2 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Flatiron District has 1.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $361.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 22nd highest in Manhattan. For development, Flatiron District has 2.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 10th highest in Manhattan. It had 3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 11 commercial properties representing 222,008 square feet of the 476,510 square feet. The largest owner is Olnick Organization, followed by ASB Capital Management and then Alfa Development.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 97 percent of the 476,510 square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 2 percent of the space.

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