Nonprofit student housing firm EHS pays $52.5M for historic affordable housing in Hudson Yards
413 West 34th Street (Credit - Google)
The nonprofit student housing firm Educational Housing Services paid $52.5 million to the Webster Apartments for the specialty building (N2) at 413 West 34th Street and the adjacent development parcel fronting 35th Street in Hudson Yards, Manhattan.
The deal closed on March 27, 2023 and was recorded on April 5, 2023. The existing building has about 150,000 square feet of space and the parcels have development rights for another approximately 150,000 square feet, according to a person familiar with the property.
Webster Apartments is a historically significant property opened nearly 100 years ago to provide affordable living arrangements for unmarried women in New York City. The new owners will provide housing to all genders.
Educational Housing Services operates student housing in owned and leased properties, including 55 John Street and the New Yorker Hotel, and over the summers leases the units to interns. The company plans to renovate the existing Webster Apartments building and construct a new building on the vacant parcel fronting 35th Street.
Prior sales and revenue
The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Siobhan Mcmanus, head officer and John Rich, officer. The business entity is The Webster Apartments (A Corp).
The property
The parcel has frontage of 119 feet and is 197 feet deep with a total lot size of 19,224 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-4 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 city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $15.4 million.
The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,937 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.1 million.
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 Hudson Yards, The majority, or 59 percent of the 16.8 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space. In sales, Hudson Yards has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $340.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 28th highest in Manhattan. For development, Hudson Yards has 2.3 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 14th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 14 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On the tax block of 413 West 34th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 11 commercial properties representing 360,211 square feet of the 463,015 square feet. The largest owner is Clinton Housing Development Company, followed by Joy Construction and then Madison Realty Capital.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 245,978 square feet. The largest is a 399-unit, 197,714 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Marx Development Group and filed by David Marx with plans filed October 30, 2013 and permitted May 9, 2016. The second largest is a 148-unit, 48,264 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Joy Construction and filed by Amnon Shalhov with plans filed October 30, 2013 and permitted October 6, 2014.
The majority, or 58 percent of the 463,015 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space.
Direct link to Acris document. link