11-building Bowery retail deal nets $62M

A portfolio of 11 mixed-use properties on the Bowery has sold for $62 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The buildings traded hands between a family trust, which had long owned them, to Joseph Betesh of Milestone Equities, whose family owns hip-hop apparel purveyor Dr. Jay’s.

The properties total roughly 143,230 above-grade square feet, according to a release from Massey Knakal Realty Services, which represented the seller in the deal. The buildings have ground-floor tenants, one of which includes restaurant Pulino’s.

“For the most part it was a retail-driven portfolio where a lot of the retail expires in the next few years,” Massey Knakal’s John Ciraulo, who represented the seller, told the Journal. New ownership now has the chance to increase rents, he added.

Betesh did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.

“It’s the place to be,” Douglas Elliman’s retail maven Faith Hope Consolo told the Journal of the area, which has rents in the $175 to $200 per-square-foot range. She told the Journal that she expects rents to rise to $325 per square foot within five years. [WSJ, 1st item] —Zachary Kussin