Gould Investors buys UES rental building with 60K unused sf

Families owned East 96th Street property for more than 40 years

Fred Gould and 153 East 96th Street (Credit: Youtube)
Fred Gould and 153 East 96th Street (Credit: Youtube)

Fred Gould’s Gould Investors struck a $25.5 million multifamily deal on the Upper East Side.

The buyer closed on the purchase of the five-story building at 153-159 East 96th Street from the Wolfson and Zlotnick families, sources told The Real Deal.

The five-story elevator building spans 37,000 square feet — with almost 60,000 additional buildable square feet. Built in 1910, the property has 40 apartments. Rent in the building has averaged about $2,600, StreetEasy records show.

The price per unit comes out to $637,500.

The deal comes as New York City’s multifamily market is rebounding from last year’s slump. In the first quarter of this year, the market saw about $3 billion in dollar volume across 148 transactions, according Ariel Property Advisors. Almost half the money was concentrated in Manhattan, which saw $1.4 billion in dollar volume.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Sean Lefkovits and John Florek

Ivan Hakimian, Sean Lefkovits and John Florek of HPNY were involved in the transaction. Avi Szenberg of Szenberg & Okun served as the sellers’ legal counsel.

Gould Investors, a Great Neck-based investment firm, didn’t immediately respond to request for comment. The seller, which owned the building for more than 40 years, also didn’t immediately respond. HPNY and Szenberg & Okun declined to comment.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Icon Realty Management recently sold a five-story walk-up for $12.2 million.

Last November, Gould Investors secured $100 million of financing from AIG Investments for its building at 35 Irving Place.