Bauhouse Group assembles 3 Sutton air rights for $38M

Deal will net additional 109k buildable sf for controversial tower

A rendering of 3 Sutton and Joseph Beninati (credit: Foster & Partners)
A rendering of 3 Sutton and Joseph Beninati (credit: Foster & Partners)

UPDATED, 11:00 a.m., Aug. 4: The Bauhouse Group recently assembled a block of development rights near its planned Norman Foster-designed condo tower at 3 Sutton Place for almost $38 million, records show.

The Joseph Beninati-led development firm purchased air rights and easements from five different properties for $37.9 million, stockpiling an additional 109,000 buildable square feet to the development site it purchased at 428-432 East 58th Street.
The site, which overlooks the Queensboro Bridge, was purchased in January for $32.3 million, city records show.

Bauhouse is looking to build a 90-story, 268,000-square-foot tower at the site designed by Foster & Partners, the architects behind Zeckendorf Development’s 50 United Nations Plaza, where a $70 million penthouse recently hit the market.

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Bauhouse caught some flack a few weeks back when residents at 434 East 58th Street, one of the properties included the recent $38 million assemblage, claimed they were lied to about the size of the glass tower.

A company representative reportedly told the sellers the tower would end up between 13 and 30 stories tall, but after they agreed to sell the air rights for about $11 million the company came out with plans showing a building reaching 90-stories tall.

“Our building is designed by world-class architectural firm Foster + Partners,  led by Lord Norman Foster and will be a beautiful addition to The Neighborhood And The Street-scape,” Beninati wrote The Real Deal in a statement. ” We are moving forward on an as-of-right basis at the City’s Buildings Department, respecting all aspects of the Zoning Resolution.”