National Sawdust Sells to Fine Arts Nonprofit

The Brooklyn-based arts nonprofit behind one of the city’s most eclectic experimental music programs has made a state-of-the-art venue its permanent home.

Original Music Workshop purchased 80 North Sixth Street in Williamsburg, known to music aficionados as National Sawdust, for $24 million, and assumed a $2 million mortgage on the property.

The address was the site of a sawdust factory built in 1910, then redeveloped as a music venue by tax lawyer and music enthusiast Kevin Dolan in 2009. The venue opened in 2015 and has since hosted some of music’s most heralded visionaries, including Phillip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Meredith Monk and Nico Muhly.

The seller is Dankyle Realty, which is registered with Dolan. Ana De Archuleta, who became National Sawdust’s managing director last year, signed for Original Music Workshop.

The music venue swap was the highlight of last week’s commercial property sales in the city’s middle market, defined as between $10 million and $40 million. The other two are below.

1. Lefkas Realty sold two lots that are part of an affordable housing development in West Harlem to Artemis NYC for $16.9 million. The parcels are on Amsterdam Avenue between West 129th and West 133rd streets.

Lefkas bought a seven-lot cluster from the New York City Housing Authority in 2022 for $6 million. The purchase included the two lots that hit property records last week. Lefkas paid $21.5 million for the development rights with plans for a 26-story, 393-unit affordable building at 1440 Amsterdam Avenue.

The lots — 10,000 and 2,500 square feet — were cleared after a three-alarm fire ripped through an Associated Supermarket in 2013. The development will include a replacement Associated. Yoav Haron signed on behalf of the buyer and Spyridon Papakonstadinou signed for the seller.

2. Rose Associates sold an 88-unit apartment building in Washington Heights to Alma Realty for $10.65 million. In 2015, Newcastle Realty Services had paid $23.1 million for the six-story, 98,000-square-foot building.

The price differential likely stems in part from the 2019 reform of rent stabilization, which severely limited rent increases and removed the law’s expiration date.

Located at 658-666 West 188th Street, the building was constructed in 1920.