Chelsea office building sells for $23.8M

The entity Star Cinema Building LLC paid $23.8 million to Steven Tannenbaum through the entity 217 West 21 Street LLC for the office building (O5) at 217-219 West 21st Street in Chelsea, Manhattan.
The deal closed on January 22, 2025 and was recorded on January 24, 2025. The property has 13,688 square feet of built space and 6,073 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,752 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,735 and the price per buildable square foot is $1,202 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 Steven Tannenbaum was Steven Tannenbaum. The signatory for the buyer was a partner with the law firm Holland & Knight, Josh Berengarten. The contract date was August 26, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller Steven Tannenbaum had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the past 24 months.

The property

The office building in Chelsea has 13,688 square feet of built space and 6,073 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,752 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,938 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.4 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 three DOB violations and $80 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 6th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Chelsea has 1.6 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were three 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 14 of the 20 commercial properties representing 293,131 square feet of the 343,945 square feet. The largest owner is S.W. Management, followed by Empire Management and then Sabet Group.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 53 percent of the 343,945 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 40 percent of the space.

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