Premier pays $26M for walk-ups, adding to UES assemblage

Real estate investment firm Premier Equities has expanded its footprint on the Upper East Side.

The Midtown-based firm scooped up two walk-ups at 1297 and 1299 Third Avenue for $26 million from longtime owner Manhattan Shade and Glass, property records show.

The two five-story buildings — which together span 11,400 square feet but are zoned for doubled that — are adjacent to at least three other parcels that Premier has assembled on Third Avenue between East 74th and East 75th streets since 2014.

Uzi Ben-Abraham and Yaron Jacobi’s firm shelled out more than $62 million for the Upper East Side assemblage, including the two newly-acquired buildings, property records show. The company paid $15 million in 2014 for 1293 and 1295 Third Avenue. It paid $5.9 million for 204 East 75th Street in 2015, and last year paid another $15 million for 1291 Third Avenue.

Combined, the sites can accommodate north of 108,000 square feet of development, PropertyShark data show.

Representatives from the firm did not immediately return a call seeking comment, and it’s unclear what the company has planned for the site.

Last year, Premier [TRDataCustom] put the assemblage on the market for an unknown price with Meridian Investment Sales, according to published reports, which suggested the site was ripe for condo development. Meridian declined to comment.

The firm, which has been an active retail investor in Soho and the Lower East Side for more than two decades, has stepped up its development efforts of late. It is developing a six-story retail-and-office building at 134 Wooster Street.

Last month, Premier snapped up three NoMad buildings and a retail condo on the Lower East Side for a total of $26 million, as The Real Deal reported.