Midtown congregation building sells for $28M

Despite the overall decline in the commercial market, a Midtown building being used in part as a synagogue sold for $28.5 million, $4.5 million more than its sale price in mid-2007.

The buyer, Mosdot Shuva Israel, closed on the sale at 122 East 58th Street between Park and Lexington avenues March 17, according to city property records published today. Mosdot Shuva Israel, now based at 328 East 61st Street, plans to use the four-story building for a synagogue, school and administrative offices, an industry source familiar with the sale said. Representatives at Mosdot Shuva Israel werenot immediately available for comment.

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Seller Hampton Synagogue bought the 23,712-square-foot, 80-year-old building in July 2007 for $24 million from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, city records show. Representatives at Hampton Synagogue were also not immediately available for comment. After the Westhampton Beach-based synagogue sold the building in 2007, the genealogical society leased it back, then rented the auditorium to the synagogue for weekly events, said society president McKelden Smith. The genealogical organization will move this summer to a 3,000-square-foot commercial condominium it bought last fall at the Bar Building, 36 West 44th Street.

Massey Knakal Realty Services represented the seller on the sale.