Icon Realty pays $1.7M for fee at East Village Hotel where it has leasehold

Icon Realty Management through the entity 147 First Realty LLC paid $1.7 million to the estate of Esther Garibaldi through the entity Chela Realty Corp. for the fee interest in the East Village Hotel building (H3) at 147 First Avenue in East Village, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing. The seller as landlord and Icon Realty Management as tenant signed a 49-year ground lease with a purchase option on November 16, 2009.
The deal closed on August 21, 2025 and was recorded on September 3, 2025. The property has 8,280 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $205 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 estate of Esther Garibaldi was Dahlia Damas. The signatory for Icon Realty Management was Terrence Lowenberg . The contract date was July 9, 2025. The former fee owner, Anthony Garibaldi, died some time between 2001 and 2009. The NYC Public Administrator handled the sale on behalf of the estate of Esther Garibaldi.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Icon Realty Management purchased eight properties in six transactions for a total of $43.2 million and sold 13 properties in 11 transactions for a total of $104.6 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Esther Garibaldi 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 Terrence Lowenberg, head officer and Todd Cohen, officer. The business entity is 147 First Realty, Llc. The 8,280-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.5 million or $179 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The hotel building in East Village has 8,280 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 23 feet and is 71 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,656 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.2 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 $750 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on October 1, 2012. 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 East Village, The bulk, or 44 percent of the 15.5 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, East Village has 2.3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $642.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 16th highest in Manhattan. For development, East Village has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 545,309 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 23 of the 34 commercial properties representing 268,047 square feet of the 357,523 square feet. The largest owner is Ryco Capital, followed by David Ogrin and then Jsb Capital Group.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 76 percent of the 357,523 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Icon Realty Management owned at least 92 commercial properties with 1,317 residential units in New York City with 1,039,158 square feet and a city-determined market value of $383.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $514.4 million in debt, with top three lenders as Series 2019-Icon, Signature Bank, and Derby Copeland Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 63 percent of the 1,039,158 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 13 percent of the space. The bulk, or 87 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 13 percent of the space.

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