Atlas Capital buys Morningside Heights resi building for $72M

Hotelier Richard Born is selling a Morningside Heights building to Atlas Capital Group for $72.2 million in an all-cash transaction, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Atlas is buying the residential building at 601 West 110th Street from Born, which is currently used both by private tenants and by Barnard College as a dormitory. Barnard students make up 183 of the building’s 500 overall residents, according to the college’s website.

Born said the property had been in his family for more than 60 years, and he no longer saw it as a core part of the business given that he is now more focused on hotels.

“The time had come,” he said. “Holding it for 60 years I thought was pretty good.”

He expects Atlas to largely continue operating the building as is, including keeping the Barnard dorms, while also making some minor renovations. A Barnard spokeswoman also said she did not expect the college to lose its space in the building as a result of the sale.

Aaron Jungreis of Rosewood Realty brokered the deal. He declined to comment on the transaction, and Atlas did not respond to a request for comment.

Aaron Jungreis

Atlas teamed up with Partners Group earlier this year to purchase Long Island City’s Factory Building for $400 million, the largest deal in Queens during the second quarter by a wide margin. The firm also recently sold 23-30 Borden Avenue in Long Island City to Andrew Chung’s Innovo Property Group for about $75 million and a commercial condo unit at 42 Crosby Street in Soho to Premier Equities for $14.3 million.

Other recent property trades in and around Morningside Heights include Riverside Church’s purchase of 97-101 Claremont Avenue from the Union Theological Seminary for $46.5 million and the Orbach Group’s sale of five buildings on West 108th Street and Manhattan Avenue for $57 million.