“Safer than a bank”: South American family scoops up 8 units at GID’s Waterline Square

If there’s a run on banks in Peru, one loaded family won’t be sweating too much. Their cash is parked in Manhattan real estate.

Nervous about the pandemic’s potential impact on financial institutions, a Peruvian family laid out $27 million in cash to scoop up eight units at GID Development Group’s Waterline Square complex in the Upper West Side, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The buyers’ agent, Douglas Elliman’s Maria Velazquez, told the outlet that the units were purchased as an investment to ride out the coronavirus pandemic. The buyers plan to rent out the units. “They felt their money was safer in an apartment in New York than in a bank,” she said.

The eight apartments total around 11,000 square feet and the family bought at a roughly seven percent overall discount from the asking prices on the units, according to the Journal. Overall, the purchase comes out to roughly $2,450 a square foot.
Velazquez said GID was somewhat firm on pricing, but saw “an opportunity to get this done before things got worse” and agreed to the discount.

Her clients visited the sales office late last year, but the deal was closed over video conference, as physical showings are currently barred by New York State.

Waterline Square has 263 condos and some rental units between its three towers. The units have been on the market since 2017. GID, which developed the tower with partner Henley Holding Co., did not disclose how many have been sold so far. The developer is targeting a sellout of $1.15 billion for the condos.

GID’s $2.3 billion construction financing package – which included $1 billion in equity – was the largest ever for a Manhattan residential project when they closed on it in late 2016. Architecture firms Rafael Viñoly Architects, Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Richard Meier & Partners were all involved in designing the complex.

New development marketing firm Corcoran Sunshine is in charge of selling Waterline Square. [WSJ] – Dennis Lynch