Nursery school operator sells Gramercy building for $7.9M

The entity Reservoir LLC paid $7.9 million to the owners of Beginnings Nursery School through the entity Blue Door Realty LLC for the school building (W9) at 130 East 16th Street in Gramercy, Manhattan. The preschool is located in the building.
The deal closed on July 19, 2024 and was recorded on July 25, 2024. The property has 7,030 square feet of built space and 3,303 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 10,324 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,123 and the price per buildable square foot is $765 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 seller bought the property on December 22, 2011, for $4.9 million. The signatory for Beginnings Nursery School was Jane Racoosin, executive director of the school. The signatory for Reservoir LLC was Fernando Arias. The contract date was October 13, 2023.

The property

The specialty building in Gramercy has 7,030 square feet of built space and 3,303 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 10,324 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 103 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,581 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 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 $350 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 Gramercy, The bulk, or 31 percent of the 11.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Gramercy has 1.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $370.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 21st highest in Manhattan. For development, Gramercy has 1.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.9 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 17 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 20 commercial properties representing 333,594 square feet of the 663,960 square feet. The largest owner is Christy Martin, followed by Croman Real Estate and then Dennis Riese.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 110,142 square feet. It is a 150-unit, 110,142 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Tishman Speyer and filed by Dan Unger with plans filed February 16, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 72 percent of the 663,960 square feet of built space are office buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link