David Moinian, CEO of Moin Development Corp, is in contract to acquire a four-story building with 50,000 buildable square feet in the Midtown thoroughfare of Sutton Place for $19 million, The Real Deal has learned.
The walk-up rental property at 1055-1057 Second Avenue, near East 56th Street, holds a total of 24 apartments, some of them rent-stabilized. The ground-floor retail component includes Skyscraper Cleaners, Vera’s Shoe Repair and Fossner Timepieces. The deal would come with 38,000 square feet of air rights.
A Chinese nonprofit family trust known as the J. T. Tai & Company Foundation has owned the site since 1969, property records show. Skyline Properties head Robert Khodadadian, who represented Moin, confirmed the property is in contract and set to close within three months. Broker Joanna Cutler represented the foundation. The per-square-foot closing price is slated to be $380.
Moinian told The Real Deal he is considering engaging in a joint venture or flipping the property. He said he is hoping to team up with other developers on the block and combine space for a large condominium building. The hypothetical construction of such a project would not involve the demolition of 1055-1057 Second Avenue, Moinian said.
Last year, Moinian partnered with hotel mogul Sam Nazarian to buy a pet hospital at 37 East 30th Street, next to Their 444 Park Avenue South hotel conversion project, as previously reported.
Khodadadian recently served as the broker on Acadia Realty Trust’s in-contract purchase of a Soho retail co-op and Sam Chang’s sale of the Whitehouse Hotel and Hostel in the East Village.