Mann Realty set to put next batch of Gramercy Park condos on the market

Carol Friedman, senior vice president at Nest Seekers, and 36 Gramercy Park EastAs the last of the 25 available units enter contract at Mann Realty’s condominium conversion of 36 Gramercy Park East, more units are being prepared to hit the market, according to Nest Seekers International, which is marketing the building.

Sales launched at the 51-unit former rental building, between 20th and 21st streets, in 2010, even as Mann continued to do interior renovation work on the circa 1908 building. Buyers paid about $2,200 to $2,400 per square foot for unrenovated two- and three-bedroom apartments facing Gramercy Park, and then commissioned custom renovations. The buyers of renovated one- and two-bedroom apartments that don’t face the park paid an average of $1,806 and $1,930 per foot, respectively, Carol Friedman, senior vice president of Nest Seekers and marketing agent at the building, said.

Buyers also get a key to the private Gramercy Park.

“Even though Gramercy Park has sort of a stuffy reputation,” Friedman said, “many of the buyers have actually skewed younger.”

Now, three more units are set to hit the market in early 2012 to satisfy a list of prospective buyers that have already expressed interest in getting the first showings of the soon-to-be-available units, Friedman said. The three units are a one-bedroom, a three-bedroom (which combines two units) and a penthouse, all of which face the park and are being renovated, with the penthouse also featuring outdoor space.

Mann is still warehousing six other units. Friedman said it is waiting until building renovations are complete before it starts work on those units so as not to pose too much of a disturbance to current residents. Sixteen more units are held by rent-stabilized tenants, holdovers from the building’s previous life, that Mann is working to buy out, Friedman said. — Adam Fusfeld