East Village development site hits the block for $22M

An East Village site where a residential development could potentially rise 12 stories hit the block today with an asking price of $22.5 million, the marketing broker told The Real Deal. The plot, at 79-89 Avenue D, is currently a one-story building with retail, owned by the Fried family, who purchased the land for $3.6 million in 2005, according to city records.

It has an as of right zoning floor area of about 72,000 square feet, according to Eastern associate director Nancy Tran, who is marketing the property with colleagues Alan Miller, Aliza Avital and Paul Nigido. The FAR can also be increased to approximately 96,000 square feet with an inclusionary housing bonus, an exemption available through a city program that allows the FAR to be increased in exchange for the creation or preservation of affordable housing, Tran said.

The area has seen dramatic improvements in pricing lately, brokers said. “Signs of improvement in that area include the well-publicized gentrification of the area around Tompkins Square Park, only 2 blocks north of 79 Avenue D, where sale prices of residential units continues to exceed historically high levels,” Tran said.

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Miller also pointed out that the height of the potential development on Avenue D will set it apart. “The residential portion of the building will, no doubt, provide spectacular views of Manhattan as well as views of the East River and beyond,” Miller said in a statement.

The asking price of $234 per buildable square foot is in line with that of other recent sales of buildings zoned residential in the East Village, such as 318 East Third Street ($152 per buildable square foot), 397-401 East Eighth Street ($173 per buildable square foot) and 327-329 Houston Street ($283 per buildable square foot), according to numbers from Eastern Consolidated. — Guelda Voien