Kushner continues East Village spree with $17.3M buy

From left: Erez Itzhaki, 170-172 East 2nd Street and Jared Kushner
From left: Erez Itzhaki, 170-172 East 2nd Street and Jared Kushner

Continuing his power play in the East Village, real estate scion Jared Kushner has paid $17.3 million for two walk-up buildings in the neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned.

Kushner bought 170-172 East 2nd Street — a six-story,17,674-square-foot building with 36 residential units– As Well As 174 East 2nd Street, a 5,253-square-foot building with nine residential units, according to PropertyShark. Kushner acquired the properties from Erez Itzhaki, the founder of acquisition and development firm Keystone Group, who had just purchased it from longtime owner Marie Kripanidhi.

Itzhaki told The Real Deal that he needed to focus his energies on other deals – most notably the $130 million purchase of 100 Varick Street in partnership with Michael Shvo – and so decided to sell the East Village buildings to Kushner. In addition to the residential units, the two buildings have a combined 1,100 square feet of retail space.

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Edan Cohen and Yona Edelkopf of Itzhaki Properties brokered the deal. Cohen pointed out that legendary poet Allen Ginsberg was once a tenant at 170 East 2nd Street.

Kushner declined to comment on the deal. Over the last two years, the mogul has expanded his footprint in the East Village. Kushner paid Benchmark Real Estate $58 million for an eight-building portfolio in August and September 2012, and in February 2013, he teamed up with an unnamed international investor to buy a $130 million portfolio of 17 walk-up apartment buildings in the area, as The Real Deal reported.  Sources said at the time that he was on the prowl for several more properties in the area.