Billionaire Jeff Greene has switched tactics in Hudson Square. Rather than build a 140,000-square-foot condominium project at 100 Vandam Street, as he told The Real Deal he would do, he has decided to sell the parcel for $150 million, or three times what he paid last year. The move follows a contentious rezoning of the area that will allow for bigger residential developments.
The twin properties are now marketed together as 527 Greenwich Street, with the option to demolish the existing buildings and replace them with a 290-foot-tall residential development measuring as much as 150,000 square feet, Crain’s reported.
Palm Beach, Fla.-based Greene, famous for landing a windfall by betting against the subprime mortgage market, paid $21.3 million for a 14,700-square-foot commercial building at 92 Vandam and $27.5 million for a 40,000-square-foot office building at 100 Vandam.
The smaller building has 42,496 square feet in unused air rights, while the latter has 23,550 square feet, as The Real Deal reported.
“Hudson Square is a very vibrant neighborhood at the moment because of the rezoning,” Michael Shvo, who is developing nearby 100 Varick Street, told Crain’s. “All these sites that you see that are for sale are by owners that are taking advantage.” [Crain’s] — Julie Strickland