Koreatown office building changes hands for $55M

A 113,000-square-foot commercial building  in Koreatown that houses a Citibank branch has sold for $55 million, according to property records filed with the city yesterday.

The 17-story, 14-unit commercial property at 22-26 West 32nd Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, features 12,000 square feet of retail and 101,000 square feet of storage and office space. The Forest Hills, Queens-based buyer of the building operates as Montague Lee 32 LLC, or Lee Roosevelt Thirty Eight, according to property records.

The seller, Charles Glogower of Great Neck, N.Y.-based Imperial Investing Corporation, acquired the site from the New York Telephone Company – now owned by Verizon – in 2000.

Both the buyer and seller declined to comment. The broker on the deal is unknown.

Koreatown and its Korean-themed business traditionally span 32nd Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, but has expanded slightly to neighboring streets in recent years in order to satisfy rising demand within the retail market there. Korean establishments that have opened off the traditional stretch are said to be less authentically Korean, and in some cases, more expensive, as previously reported.

Elsewhere On 32nd Street, Vornado Realty Trust completed a $330 million refinancing last year of 150 West 32nd Street across from Madison Square Garden.