UPDATED, Aug. 3, 5:40 p.m.: Solil Management, which controls the assets of the late real estate mogul Sol Goldman, filed plans to build a 12-story mixed-use building in Tribeca — a rare ground-up construction project in the firm’s storied history.
Best known for holding onto buildings in its massive $6 billion portfolio, the estate traditionally has signed long-term ground leases with developers and tenants who have been eager to snap up the development-ready properties.
But in recent years, sources predicted that strategy would “very likely change” under the current generation’s leadership.
“Although historically we have not done many ground-up projects, we see this as a starting point for a potential development platform,” Michael Goldman, a grandson of the late mogul, told The Real Deal in an email. He also said the development at 86 Warren Street was Solil’s [TRDataCustom] “largest to date” and would house rental apartments.
In a filing with the Department of Buildings, Solil outlined plans for a 55,000-square-foot building at 86 Warren, currently used as a parking lot and located between Greenwich Street and West Broadway. Filings show the building will have 40 apartments and more than 5,600 square feet of retail. There would be five apartments on each of the lower floors, with two units on floors eight through 12, and the rooftop will hold a private and common terrace for residents.
BKSK Architects is the architect of record.
Property records show that the Goldman estate has owned 86 Warren since 1994, when Sol’s widow, Lillian Goldman purchased the site for an undisclosed price.
The parcel is in the heart of Tribeca just blocks away from the CIM Group and Magnum Real Estate’s 100 Barclay, a conversion of a former Verizon building with 161 condos, as well as 111 Murray, the 157-unit luxury condo tower that’s being developed by Witkoff, Fisher Brothers and New Valley.
Since Goldman’s death in 1987, Solil has been run by his children, Jane and Allan, who generally maintain a low profile. After a quiet period between 2003 and 2007 – during which time they did just one major ground-lease deal – Solil ramped up deal-making, but still adhered to a strategy of long-term ownership.
But holding onto those assets for so long has given Solil an enviable portfolio of development sites. A 2013 TRD analysis found 12 locations where the estate owns adjacent buildings with development rights of 93,000 square feet or more.
Historically, development opportunities on Goldman-owned properties have been scooped up by other eager to claim a piece of the family’s portfolio, which is said to have more than 240 properties in Manhattan.
For example, Gary Barnett’s Extell Development controls a number of leases on Solil land. In 2011, Barnett paid $28.6 million to lease a Goldman-owned site at 551 10th Avenue, the site of a new 52-story residential tower. Just last month, Barnett sold the leasehold to 20 East 46th Street, a 15-story office building, to Simon Singer and Elie Schwartz’s Nightingale Group for $27.7 million.
In 2015, Shorenstein Realty Services agreed to pay $330 million for the ground lease at 1407 Broadway, a 1.1 million-square-foot office building, where Solil owns the land beneath the property. The Lightstone Group controlled the operating subleases while Abraham Kamber & Co. controls the master lease.