Bistricer snags UWS rental building for $173M

David Bistricer’s Clipper Equity picked up the Brewster – a 155-unit multifamily building on the Upper West Side – for $172.5 million, nearly twice the price the seller paid four years ago.

Clipper paid $172.5 million, or $1,214 per square foot, to buy the property at 21 West 86th Street from Barings Real Estate Advisers, formerly known as Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, property records filed with the city Monday show.

Clipper also secured a $104 million loan from New York Community Bank for the acquisition.

A representative for Barings couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Barings paid $98 million when it purchased the building and a leasehold interest in the property back in November 2012, and doesn’t appear to have de-regulated many units. The property had 38 rent-stabilized units when Barings purchased it, and now has 36, city Department of Finance records show.

But the owner did make improvements to the property, according to a lawsuit the building’s rent-regulated tenants’ association filed in 2014 against the owner, property manager Adellco Management and lender Nationwide Life Insurance Co.

According to the lawsuit, as manager of the LLC that owned the property, Barings began making upgrades to the building, but reached an agreement to exclude the rent-regulated units from the improvements and not apply for a major capital improvements rent increase.

The improvement project interrupted water service and filled the building with construction noise and dust, the lawsuit claims. The owners also allegedly removed a rooftop garden to make way for penthouse apartments and HVAC equipment, the lawsuit claims.

The tenants are seeking $10 million in damages in the ongoing case. The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 16.

Two construction workers were seriously injured in September while working at the site, according to a New York Daily News report. The Department of Buildings issued a partial stop-work order.