Camera purveyor inks speedy $32M Washington Heights deal

A Washington Heights multi-family building has traded for just over $32 million, according to records filed with the city Friday.

The 91-unit property at 780 Riverside Drive, called the Vauxhall, was sold to landlord Mendel Mendlowits, a source said. The pre-war building has no units available for rent, but StreetEasy shows apartments asking between $2,600 and $3,800 per month rented in the last year.

George Niblock of Manhattan-based commercial brokerage Friedman-Roth Realty Services represented the buyer, he confirmed to TRD.

Mendlowits’ family owns the camera store Adorama at 42 West 18th Street and just last month sold a Flatiron District development site to Toll Brothers for $69 million, as The Real Deal reported. He was not immediately available for comment but Niblock said he would make upgrades at the building, which is largely rent-stabilized.

Niblock also said the deal was unconventional in that there was no contract period, which typically lasts at least a month, but the sale side requested the terms.

“Everyone worked together to get it done very quickly,” he said. “This is very unique in this business.”

The late Tigran Arrathoon had owned the 10-story building at 155th Street since 1972, according to city records. No purchase price was listed. Arrathoon’s daughter declined further comment.

Another Friedman-Roth broker, Jim Thorp, represented the seller, Niblock said.

Also in Washington Heights, Vantage Properties has been on a selling spree recently, exiting 34-64 Hillside Avenue for $26 million in September. The Queens-based Vantage has been divesting from Upper Manhattan buildings while acquiring distressed single-family homes in tandem with an unnamed private equity partner, as The Real Deal has reported.

Additional reporting by Adam Pincus