David Bistricer is the latest developer to take a crack at one of Upper Manhattan’s long-stalled development sites.
Bistricer’s Clipper Equity struck a deal to buy the large vacant plot of land at 1800 Park Avenue from the Durst Organization for more than $50 million, sources told The Real Deal.
Bistricer confirmed the purchase but declined to comment further.
The vacant plot at East 125th Street could accommodate more than 680,000 square feet of buildable space, making it a candidate to be one of the biggest rental development projects in Manhattan in several years.
“This site is sure to be a groundbreaking site that will have a profound impact on the entire neighborhood,” read a marketing memo from Bob Knakal’s BKREA, which brokered the sale.
Bistricer is the fourth developer to own the property in the past dozen years.
Vornado Realty Trust bought the property from the New York College of Podiatric Medicine in 2007 for $39.5 million, with plans to develop it as an office building anchored by the MLB Network.
The REIT sold the site in 2013 for $66 million to Bruce Eichner’s Continuum Companies, which had plans for a 700-unit residential rental project. Eichner fell behind on his loan and the Dursts purchased the property’s $100 million debt. The Dursts then bought the site in 2017 for nearly $91 million.
Plans to develop the property hit a snag when the state’s 421a tax abatement expired in 2022. That put a two-year freeze on any project that hadn’t already begun until state lawmakers last year passed a replacement program, 485x.
The new abatement has been slow to take off, though, due to the wage requirements it places on certain projects. The site at 1800 Park Avenue is outside the two zones with the most restrictive wage requirements, and could avoid them altogether if it were split up into parcels of fewer than 100 units each.
Bistricer, meanwhile, has been busy on the development front.
Clipper Equity last year finished up construction at its 766-unit project in Greenpoint known as Tower 77. The developer last May landed a $430 million loan from J.P. Morgan Chase to refinance the property.
Bistricer’s publicly traded REIT — Clipper Realty — recently completed a 240-unit project in Crown Heights at 953 Dean Street.
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