Gallery owner David Zwirner pays $11.7M for mixed-use in Chelsea, at least fifth purchase in NYC

Gallery owner David Zwirner through the entity DAZW LLC paid $11.7 million to Keith D. Jacobson through the entity West Chelsea Holding LLC for the mixed-use building (K2) at 527 West 19th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan. Zwirner already owned a stake in the building through a tenant-in-common structure, according to city records. Zwirner has long-occupied a portion of the adjacent building at 525 West 19th Street for the main office for the expanding art dealing company.
The deal closed on February 1, 2023 and was recorded on February 3, 2023. The property has 13,800 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $851 per the PincusCo analysis.
The seller bought the property on December 9, 2005, for $14.3 million. The signatory for Keith D. Jacobson was Keith D. Jacobson. The signatory for David Zwirner Gallery was David Zwirner. David Zwirner operates four galleries in New York City including in the adjacent building, 525 West 19th Street, as well as others around the world, and has expanded rapidly in the past several years. Zwirner bought a commercial condominium in Astoria, Queens, at 19-40 Hazen Street for $12 million in 2019. He also bought 153 Avenue B for $6.6 million in 2017 and in 2010 paid $8 million for the 24,289-square-foot 537 West 20th Street, a block north of the newest purchase.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer David Zwirner Gallery had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Keith D. Jacobson had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 13,800-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.8 million or $132 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 527 West 19th Street parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 92 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,200 square feet. The zoning is C6-2 which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $8.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Chelsea, the bulk, or 36 percent of the 52.6 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 3rd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.6 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Chelsea has 2.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 15 commercial properties representing 84,803 square feet of the 267,598 square feet. The two identified owners are Gottesman family and General Leasing & Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 27,029 square feet. It is a nine-unit, 27,029-square-foot R-2 building developed by Christopher Prokop with plans filed April 5, 2016 and permitted April 23, 2019.

The majority, or 38 percent of the 250,894 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with office buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.

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