David Bistricer’s Clipper Realty is in contract to buy an Upper West Side rental building from Touro College for $79 million, the developer told The Real Deal.
The newly formed real estate investment trust entered into an agreement for 10 West 65th Street, a six-story building with 82 apartments was shopped in 2015 for $115 million, or $850 per square foot. Clipper will pay $585 per square foot for the 82,230-square-foot building plus an additional 53,000 square feet of air rights.
Touro bought the building for $44 million in 2008 from Extell Development, property records show. The Gary Barnett-led firm picked up the site for $23 million in 2004 and gutted about half of the apartments before selling the property to Touro.
Over the past eight years, the school maintained the building for 30 rent-stabilized or rent-controlled tenants, and it rented out the remaining apartments to students.
Touro shopped the property for $115 million in 2015 with Cushman & Wakefield, but six months ago re-listed it for $85 million to $90 million with Rosewood Realty Group.
“They’ve been trying to sell it on and off for a while. They got the right buyer and decided to pull the trigger,” said Rosewood’s Aaron Jungreis, who shared the listing this year with Devin Cohen and brought in Bistricer. “It’s a prime area, right near the park. Because he’s a REIT, he can afford to hold it long term.”
Clipper said it plans to finance the latest purchase with a mortgage and cash on hand, the company said. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year, and Clipper will invest “incremental capital” to enhance the property.
Last year, Clipper paid $106 million for the Aspen, a rental building at 1955 First Avenue on the Upper East Side that has 232 apartments and 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Clipper raised $86 million in an IPO in February.
Excluding the Aspen, the REIT generated rental income of $80 million last year from properties that include Flatbush Gardens, a 59-building rent-controlled apartment complex in Brooklyn, As Well As 50 Murray Street and 53 Park Place in Tribeca and two mixed-use buildings at 141 and 150 Livingston Street in Brooklyn.
(To view more commercial sales transactions from Clipper, click here)