The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, also known as the Hare Krishna movement, wants to sell its U.S. headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn for upwards of $60 million, or more than $300 per buildable square feet, The Real Deal has learned.
The four-story, 34,000-square-foot property at 295-309 Schermerhorn Street boasts 187,000 square feet, and currently houses a temple and vegetarian restaurant Govinda’s. Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir has owned the building since 1983, according to documents obtained by TRD. The site has 155 feet of frontage along Schermerhorn Street.
The religious organization is looking for a new home in Queens. The bulk of the society’s members live in that borough, sources said.
Eastern Consolidated executive managing director David Schechtman and associate director Andrew Sassoon are marketing the site and also assisting with scouting a new location, sources said.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in the city in 1966. The religious organization is primarily based in Mayapur, India, and a spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.
The initial Hare Krishna location in The City Was 26 Second Avenue in the East Village. The movement relocated in the late 1960s, and then re-leased the space there in 1991.