Columbia University picks up former supermarket site for $84M

Nothing will stand in the way between Columbia University’s Manhattanville campus and the Hudson River. Especially not a shuttered supermarket.

The school scooped up an assemblage formerly belonging to Fairway Market at 2328 12th Avenue for $84 million, the Commercial Observer reported. The all-cash deal came after the Harlem site was put on the market in August 2020.

According to the Observer, the 2.5-acre site is located between 12th Avenue and the Henry Hudson Parkway, spanning three blocks between the school’s new campus and the river. The property has a 41,000-square-foot building, 13,000-square-foot warehouse and 68,000-square-foot parking lot. There’s also billboard space in view of highway drivers and some Amtrak passengers.

There is the potential for 219,000 square feet of new development at the site. The Observer noted Columbia has a range of options available based on the Special Manhattanville Mixed-Use Zoning District linked to the school’s campus.

A Cushman & Wakefield team including Eric Roth and Adam Spies led the marketing and sale of the property.

The Observer reported there was intense competition for the assemblage, which the Glickberg family decided to sell after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and the supermarket’s 2020 closure. The site reportedly drew developers interested in the life sciences, industrial real estate and even film studios.

Read more

New York

Columbia University inks deals with 2 restaurants

New York

Here are details on Columbia’s 34-story university housing tower

The price tag on the former Fairway site is the same as what changed hands in a recent sale of a student housing complex near the school.

TriHill Management and Pebb Capital in November sold the 80-unit Monarch Heights building to a foreign individual for $84 million. The building at 415 West 120th Street was fully leased after students returned to campus for the academic year.

In February 2021, the school inked deals with two restaurants to open close to the university’s Morningside Heights campus. Pizza joint Roberta’s was set to open its first standalone Manhattan location, while Japanese restaurant Sapp’s was expected to open its first Manhattan location by fall 2021.

[CO] — Holden Walter-Warner