Months before its 100th anniversary, one of New York City’s last-surviving all-women apartment houses sold for $52.5 million to a student housing company that’s been gradually raising its New York City profile.
Brooklyn-based nonprofit Educational Housing Services picked up The Webster Apartments, a 376-unit single-room occupancy building at 413 West 34th Street in Midtown, property records show and CEO Jeffrey Lynford confirmed. Included in the sale is an adjacent undeveloped lot that spans the remainder of the blockfront along Dyer Avenue at the corner of West 35th Street.
EHS, which provides dormitory-style rooms to college students and summer interns at a half-dozen properties in Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights, last expanded its footprint in 2019, when it paid Tessler Development $101 million for a 17-story building previously used by Pace University at 55 John Street in the Financial District.
The acquisition signals the end of an era for The Webster Apartments, which would have celebrated 100 years at the address in November. The nonprofit — which says on its website that it’s moving to a new location in Midtown East — traces its history to Charles Webster, a cousin of Macy’s founder Rowland H. Macy, who left the bulk of his estate to build the West 34th Street property when he died in 1916.
The building, which opened in 1923, offered working women an affordable place to live and connect with other transplants. As recently as 2019, tenants could pay as little as $1,430 a month for a room that came with light housekeeping, two daily meals and a host of social activities.
By comparison, a semester-long stay at EHS’ Midtown West location at 481 Eighth Avenue runs anywhere from $8,150 to $11,100, or about $2,000 to $2,800 per month.
Webster says it’s moving to 569 Lexington Avenue, a Midtown East building operated by national student and intern housing provider Found Study.
It’s unclear whether its payment model will be preserved with the move. Rents at Found Study’s Midtown East location run $3,600 per month for a standard single room, excluding a $200 membership fee.
The Webster Apartments did not immediately return a request for comment.
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