Aby Rosen’s RFR pays $26M for Noho homeless shelter

RKF seeking retail tenant for 350 Lafayette

Aby Rosen And 350 Lafayette Street in Noho
Aby Rosen And 350 Lafayette Street in Noho

UPDATED, 1:15 p.m., July 28: Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding bought a four-story building at 350 Lafayette Street in Noho for $26 million, according to property records filed with the city Monday.

RFR closed on the purchase of the roughly 15,000-square-foot building July 16 from Admar Group, a New Jersey-based marketing consulting firm that also owns real estate properties around the country. The building, located on the corner of Lafayette and Bond streets, currently houses a 43-bed homeless women’s shelter.

Henry Ostberg, president of Admar Group, confirmed the deal and the transaction price.

“We own properties outside New York and we think that the New York [real estate] market may not be at the top, but is getting close to it,” Ostberg told The Real Deal.

The shelter is operated by the Center of Urban Community Services. The organization has run the facility, which it calls “the first ever dedicated to helping homeless NYC women suffering from mental illness to obtain permanent housing,” since 1988.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

But the property’s days as a shelter appear to be numbered, with an RKF listing indicating the space is available for a “single tenant” retail opportunity in the third quarter of this year. RKF could not be reached for comment.

Ostberg declined to comment on the building’s future use, saying it is “not for me to discuss.” RFR declined to comment on the matter. Jerome Benayoun of Black Diamond Advisory Group represented RFR and was the sole broker on the off-market transaction.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said earlier this year that the state would withhold funding from 16 homeless shelters in the city due to poor conditions at the facilities.

Rosen, meanwhile, recently announced that a new restaurant by the team behind Carbone, Dirty French and Santina would replace the Four Seasons at the Seagram Building in Midtown.

Correction: A previous version of this story inaccurately described 350 Lafayette Street as located in Soho. The building is located in Noho.