Alfa to buy Gramercy development site for nearly $70M

PMG, Apex scrap affordable housing project; buyer planning condos

257-261 Third Avenue in Gramercy Park (inset: Kevin Maloney and Michael Namer)
257-261 Third Avenue in Gramercy Park (inset: Kevin Maloney and Michael Namer)

Alfa Development is in contract to buy a four-building Gramercy Park development site from Kevin Maloney’s Property Markets Group and Kasra Sanandaji’s Apex Investments for $69.6 million, The Real Deal has learned.

Alfa, a Chelsea-based development firm led by Michael Namer, will likely build condominiums on the site, said M.L. Perlman, vice president of development and marketing. The existing properties, along with additional air rights, collectively offer more than 90,000 buildable square feet — and allow for a building as tall as 20 stories.

PMG and Apex began assembling the low-rise, mixed-use properties last year, paying $9.5 million for 253-255 Third Avenue and $7.6 million for 261 Third Avenue in two separate deals, according to property records.

Then, just last month, they paid $15.6 million for a pair of buildings at 257 Third Avenue and 259 Third Avenue, near East 21st Street. The four properties contain residential rental units as well as significant retail space. PMG and Apex intended to construct an affordable housing building on the site, but are now selling all four properties in a deal slated to close by August 1.

“Currently, PMG has a number of properties under construction including 111 West 57th Street and 10 Sullivan, two additional sites breaking ground this year and several in the planning stage,” Maloney said in a statement to TRD. We are also very busy in Miami and Chicago, so I thought it prudent to focus on these and sell the site at 21st Street and Third Avenue.”

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Cushman & Wakefield’s Bob Knakal and Jonathan Hageman, who represented the sellers, declined to comment.

Alfa also developed Chelsea Green, a 20-story, 51-unit condo building along 21st Street in Chelsea.

“We’re excited to participate in the strong real estate market in the area, just steps away from Gramercy Park,” Perlman said.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Akelius Real Estate Management picked up a 17-story rental building at 301 East 21st Street for $167.5 million in May, as TRD reported.