An ‘A’ on the sniff test

Tribeca penthouse still unsold, even though smells from McDonald’s are gone

The duplex penthouse at 8 Thomas Street seems a world away from Mickey D’s, even though the fast-food joint is just next door.
The duplex penthouse at 8 Thomas Street seems a world away from Mickey D’s, even though the fast-food joint is just next door.

The five-story condominium building at 8 Thomas Street in Tribeca doesn’t have golden arches, but it does have a tenuous tie-in to McDonald’s.

In the last few years, the building’s residents have complained about the exhaust fumes from delivery trucks parked outside the fast-food restaurant, which is next door at 317 Broadway.

The supposed smell has made it difficult for developer Anand Gajjar to sell the building’s duplex penthouse, where he lives with his wife, Rita.

The couple has struggled to sell their home. They’ve already had two sets of brokers listing the property.

Now the Gajjars are turning to Toni Haber and Steven Kramer of Douglas Elliman to take a crack at marketing their three-bedroom apartment. The 3,197-square-foot condo has an asking price of $5.399 million, Haber told The Real Deal.

Previously, Timothy McCarthy of Stribling & Associates listed the penthouse for $3.995 million in 2009. The couple decided to live there and pulled it off the market in February 2010. In February this year, Laura Moss of Brown Harris Stevens stepped in and listed it for $5.995 million, StreetEasy shows. The three other units in the building have all sold.

The unit has a family room that can be converted into a fourth bedroom and a 1,000-square-foot rooftop terrace. An extra $300,000 will buy a wine cellar and game room in the building’s basement.

Haber is developing a plan for selling the unit.

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“Each individual property needs a very specific way to market it,” Haber said. “The owner said it wasn’t getting a lot of activity.”

Brown Harris Stevens , the previous brokerage, was not available to comment.

Residents of the building, between Broadway and Church Street, started griping about Mickey D’s four years ago.

Armed with a petition, they went to both the local community board and McDonald’s headquarters demanding that the fast-food chain relocate its unloading spot, which allegedly blocked access to other cars.

Today, according to Rita Gajjar, the trucks rarely park out front, instead lining up along Broadway.

She insisted she never smelled the odor.

When TRD visited, the apartment indeed passed the sniff test: No stink whatsoever.

Correction: A previously published version of this article said the couple struggled to sell it for three years. The couple took the unit off the market between February 2010 and February 2013.