$4.15M contract signed for Washington Heights dev site, seller is Jewish congregation set to close
711 West 179th Street (Credit - Google)
Woodside, Queens-based developer Xiao Ke Tang signed a contract in October 2024 to pay $4.15 million for 711 West 179th Street, in Washington Heights, Manhattan, according to a petition filed by the seller, which is a required step for nonprofit and religious groups when they seek to sell major assets. The seller is the Orthodox Jewish congregation Gates of Hope, also known as Shaarei Hatikvah, which was formed in 1936 by German Jewish immigrants. Simultaneously with the sale, the congregation will dissolve and the funds from the sale will be distributed to eight Jewish groups, all but one outside New York City. The one in the city is a grant of $400,000 to K’hal Adath Jeshuran, “the last remaining Orthodox Jewish Washington Heights Synagogue,” the petition says.
The contract was disclosed May 29, 2025, in a filing made in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Case LINK
The property
The property in Washington Heights has 11,557 square feet of built space and 22,800 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 34,400 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,000 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2 million.
Development
Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.
Violations and lawsuits
According to city public data, the property has received two DOB violations, $5,625 in ECB penalties, and $6,135 in OATH penalties in the last year.
There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.
The neighborhood
In Washington Heights, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 66 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Washington Heights has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $322.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 25th highest in Manhattan. For development, Washington Heights has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 24th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 22 of the 31 commercial properties representing 1,185,635 square feet of the 1,403,746 square feet. The largest owner is , followed by Genesis Realty Group and then Stanley Stahl. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.
The surrounding
This is the first commercial real estate event of interest identified within the 400-foot radius of 713 West 179 Street in the past 24 months.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.