Goldman signs contract to buy Chelsea retail condo

Residential brokerage Core is tenant in unit that sources price at nearly $7M

The heir to one of New York City’s great real estate fortunes is continuing to accumulate properties although recently focusing on modest-priced retail investments.

Lloyd Goldman’s BLDG Acquisition is in contract to buy a retail condo at the Yves, a condominium at 127 Seventh Avenue at 18th Street with 2,064 square feet on the ground floor from the property’s developer, Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Real Estate Group, a document filed this past Friday with the city shows.

Goldman signed the purchase agreement on Jan. 5, and the transaction is expected close within 45 days of that day, the records show. The residential brokerage Core moved in to the space in the spring on 2009.

The price was not revealed, but sources said the unit is expected to sell for $6.64 million. The sale price was approximately $3,217 per square foot on the ground floor, and the unit also includes 1,432 square feet of cellar space.

Jeffery Fishman, an executive vice president at retail-focused firm Robert K. Futterman & Associates, brokered the sale.

In addition, last month another buyer snapped up a smaller ground-floor retail condo in the building, this one occupied by a People’s United Bank. On Dec. 14, a Russian investor paid $6.5 million for the 2,340-square-foot unit, or about $2,777 per foot, city property records published earlier this month show.

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The Grubb & Ellis New York investment sales team of Yoav Oelsner, Neil Helman, Charles Kingsley, Vincent Carrega and Jon Epstein, marketed the property and brokered the sale.

In another modest-sized purchase, In October, BLDG closed on the $10.5 million acquisition of an Upper East Side retail condo at 300 East 79th Street.

Michael Rudder, a principal with commercial firm Rudder Property Group which focuses on commercial condos, said the market was strong for retail condos.

“These steady, management-free investments will continue to see significant appreciation as the market rebounds,” he said.

Year-end statistics from commercial brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services show that $907 million in retail properties sold in 2011. During the year, 51 properties changed hands, with an average price per square foot of $1,561.

BLDG did not respond to a request for comment and Core and Shaoul declined to comment.