Avdoo signs contract for large Chelsea dev site with Wasserstein Enterprises, price not disclosed

The development firm Avdoo through the entity 100 West 17th Street Owner LLC signed a contract as buyer with the family office Wasserstein Enterprises through the entity JGCB LLC (and others) as seller for a corner development site composed of five tax parcels including the vacant lot at 587 Sixth Avenue, the 16-unit residential elevator building (D5) at 104 West 17th Street, the office building (O5) at 581 Sixth Avenue, and 10-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 108 West 17th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up development. The contract was disclosed in a memorandum of contract, which did not disclose the sale price or closing date.
The memorandum of contract and the contract were dated February 25, 2026 and the memorandum recorded on February 26, 2026. The five properties have 70,475 square feet of built space and 50,709 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 121,152 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The figure is not confirmed by the parties.
The signatories for Wasserstein Enterprises were Jennifer S. Brooks, Michael Schneider, Rita Warner, and others . The signatory for Avdoo was Shlomi Avdoo .

Theodore Wasserstein was president and Joseph and Morris Wasserstein were also involved in a company called Ribbon Crafts, which owned 11 tax lots in the 1970s and 1980s.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Avdoo purchased nine properties in five transactions for a total of $144.4 million and sold two properties in one transaction for a total of $6.7 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Wasserstein Enterprises had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. Out of the five properties, two with a total of 70,475 square feet of built space generated revenue of $1.7 million per year.

The property

The office building in Chelsea has 70,475 square feet of built space and 50,709 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 121,152 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 46 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,600 square feet. The zoning is C6-2A which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received four DOB violations and $1,150 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 Chelsea, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 52.5 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Chelsea has the 8th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Chelsea has 1.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.9 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 581 Sixth Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 19 commercial properties representing 116,546 square feet of the 349,200 square feet. The largest owner is Sun-Man Raymond Chan, followed by Stg Realty Group and then S.W. Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 9,157 square feet. It is a four-unit, 9,157 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yaniv Garbo with plans filed December 11, 2018 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 55 percent of the 349,200 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Wasserstein Enterprises owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 228,000 square feet and a city-determined market value of $80.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $19.9 million in debt, borrowed from Apple Bank for Savings. The portfolio consists of at least a single office property. It is located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Avdoo owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 68,476 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $40 million in debt, borrowed from Valley National Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single office property. It is located in Manhattan.

UPDATED: An earlier version of this post used an alternate spelling for the given name of Sholomi Avdoo, Sholomo, as it appears in transfers. 

Direct link to Acris document. link