Several more properties in the William Gottlieb estate have hit the sales market, encouraging another round of renewed hope among brokers and developers that the entire portfolio of 100 prime properties across the Lower East Side, West Village and Chelsea will eventually trickle onto the market.
The New York Post reported that two vacant lots on East Houston Street and two more on Attorney Street have recently hit the market for $9.5 million and $4.25 million, respectively. That’s on top of the Horatio Street apartment building the estate sold for $6 million last year, and the East 10th Street townhouse belonging to Gottlieb that has languished on the market with an asking price of $5.6 million.
However, just as he did after the sale of the Horatio Street apartment, the spokesperson denied there were any plans to sell the portfolio. But since Gottlieb’s nephew, Neil Bender, took control of the estate in May 2010, assets have begun being listed for sale.
The Post characterizes Gottlieb as someone with the appearance of a “bum,” who quietly amassed properties and left them completely untouched despite their immense profit-generating potential. The portfolio “is one of the most intriguing in the city, and it is also clear that is not producing anywhere near the cash returns that it could,” said Massey Knakal Chairman Robert Knakal. Today the portfolio could be worth $1 billion.
One example is an empty lot along 10th Avenue that Gottlieb bought for seven figures in the 1990s, but could be worth $50 million today thanks in part to its proximity to the High Line. [Post]
