Charney Cos. Sells 99 Claremont Avenue to Columbia University

It may be a bit early for back-to-school, but real estate dealmaking doesn’t take a summer break.

Sam Charney sold his student-housing project at 99 Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights to Columbia University for $122 million, The Real Deal has learned.

Charney Companies bought the Gothic-style building that once served as a dorm for the Union Theological Seminary for $38 million in 2024, and then renovated it into a 300-student residence for Columbia.

The property is “Columbia’s first residence hall dedicated exclusively to students enrolled in the Columbia School of General Studies,” according to the Ivy League university’s website.

The student housing — which includes a fitness center, communal chef’s kitchen and roof deck — is set to open to students in the fall.

A spokesperson for Charney declined to comment and a representative for Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Charney is one of the most active residential developers in the city with a large pipeline of projects in Brooklyn — particularly in Gowanus, where he and his partners at Tavros Capital are remaking the neighborhood with some 2,000 new apartments across four new buildings.

For 99 Claremont, his first project in Manhattan, Charney teamed up with Criterion Real Estate Capital and financed the renovation with a $55 million loan from Madison Realty Capital.

“There were so many special, historic things about this property,” Charney said in an Instagram video last year, explaining that the building’s narrow width allowed lots of light and air to come through its many windows. “The floor plate allowed us to create really small units. Naturally, being two blocks from Columbia, we said, ‘We have a housing crisis in New York. We have a student housing crisis in New York. What are small units good for? Perfect for dorm rooms.’”

The Union Theological Seminary, which has had an affiliation with Columbia going back to the 1920s, had reportedly struck a deal in 2018 to sell what was then known as McGiffert Hall to developer Craig Nassi’s BCN Development for $50 million.

But the church instead sold it for $46.5 million to Riverside Church, which ultimately sold it to Charney six years later.

Columbia, meanwhile, has done some notable deals recently.

Earlier this year, the university sold a student housing property in the Bronx to Fetner Properties and PGIM closed for $65 million. And in 2022, it paid $84 million for a development site that can accommodate 219,000 square feet.