UWS home of Picholine restaurant trades for $26M

A nine-story Manhattan residential building — the longstanding home of the Michelin-starred restaurant Picholine — has sold for $26 million after a bidding war between real estate investors, sources told The Real Deal. A partnership of Astoria Realty Partners and Mornos Realty was the victorious party, purchasing 35 West 64th Street, between Central Park West and Broadway, according to Friedman-Roth Realty Services, which represented the buyer. 

Numerous investors did due diligence on the building, eventually bidding the price up from $22 million, said Eric Roth, managing partner at Friedman-Roth. He declined to say which investors had shown interest. The building was only on the market for about three weeks, he added.

In addition to 68 residential units, the building has housed Picholine — Terrance Brennan’s flagship restaurant — on the ground floor since 1993.

The restaurant has a lease, Roth indicated, and no plans to move as far as he knows.

Previously, the building was the Hotel Monticello, site of the murder of Irish bootlegger Jack “Legs” Diamond in 1930. Diamond was often called the “Clay Pigeon of the Underworld,” due to the numerous attempts on his life. When police questioned his widow, the first words she spoke were reportedly “I didn’t do it.”

Jude Dayani, of Orsid Realty, represented the seller, while Joseph Smith and Nadeem Haque, both of Friedman-Roth, represented the purchaser.

— Additional reporting by Adam Pincus