DAB Investments, partners buy vacant Tribeca rental building

R.A. Cohen & Associates sold a five-story Tribeca loft building to a partnership led by real estate broker and investor David Friedman for $22 million.

The 20,670-square-foot, 13-unit rental property at 51 White Street, Located Between Broadway And Church Street, was delivered vacant and traded for just over $1,064 per square foot in an all-cash deal.

Friedman, who heads real estate investment firm DAB Investments, is a partner in the entity that acquired the building and also represented the buyer through his brokerage Vertex Realty Group. Friedman confirmed the deal but declined to disclose the other partners on the acquisition.

A Cushman & Wakefield team of James Nelson, Will Suarez and David Shalom represented R.A. Cohen, which put 51 White Street on the market for $24 million in early 2015.

The property offers more than 6,300 square feet of unused development rights, which Cushman touted as potentially enabling a two-floor addition — provided the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission approves such plans, given that 51 White Street is located in a historic district.

The building “represents an excellent condo conversion opportunity given the location and the fact that it was delivered vacant,” Nelson said in a statement. He added that R.A. Cohen “preferred to capitalize on the strength in the sales market as opposed to taking on the project themselves.”

R.A. Cohen, led by founder and president Robert Cohen, could not immediately be reached for comment.