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About 260 Park Avenue South
Park Avenue South is distinguished by numerous attractive, mid-rise, commercial buildings that were erected in the first third of the 20th Century. Many were renovated during the renaissance of the "Flatiron" district in the 1980s and 1990s. That "Midtown South" renaissance was spurred by the district’s lower office rents and large retail spaces that were taken over by many restaurants that became very popular.
The area has always had a good residential base because of the proximity of Gramercy Park.
This handsome building served as the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers for about 30 years until it was sold in 2003 along with an adjoining building at 48 West 21st Street also owned by the federation to Max Capital, led by principal Adam Hochfelder and developer Yitzchak Tessler of Linjan Associates LLC, and the co-investment division of Insignia Financial Group.
The Federation represents about 140,000 teachers, guidance counselors, school librarians, secretaries and other educators in the New York City public school system.
The federation decided in 2002 to relocate to Lower Manhattan and bought 50 Broadway and leased 52 Broadway. According to a January 16, 2002 article in a Dow Jones Newswire Real Estate Report by Janet Morrissey, "The value of the property and first-year lease are expected to total $65 million to $75 million. The seller is an entity controlled by Koll Bren and Schreiber LLP, a real estate investment trust, while the owner of the property being leased is Jack Resnick & Sons Inc. The new sites, which include a 37-story building at 50 Broadway and a 19-story adjoining building at 52 Broadway, will offer 740,000 square feet of space, more than double its current space....The union expects to purchase the one site and lease the second site for roughly the same amount of money it fetches from selling its current properties....'When we moved in 30 years ago, this was not a fashionable neighborhood. It was, how should I say, dingy,'...[Randi Weingarten, president of the union] said. 'Now the sidewalks are awash in yuppies' and the neighborhood is trendy, he said."
260 Park Avenue South has a total of 86 condominium apartments in the two buildings that have a concierge and a health club. There are laundry facilities on each floor. The two buildings will share a lobby and three elevator shafts permit no more than five units on a landing. There is parking for about 100 cars and many ceilings are 13 feet high.
While the developers added four floors to the eight-story neo-Classical façade on Park Avenue South, they carved a 12-story niche from the back of the building on 21st Street to provide more "light and air" to rear apartments and to create a rock garden. Most bathrooms will have two sinks and a six-foot bathtub.
The building has a fitness center, 24-hour concierge service and four rooftop gardens. One of the penthouses has a swimming pool.
260 Park Avenue South is an 8-story building with about 82,200 square feet and 48 East 21st Street is a 12-story building with about 123,000 square feet.
Karl Fischer Architects is the architect for the project. Mr. Tessler’s other projects have included 150 Nassau Street and 66 Leonard Street.
This neighborhood abounds in restaurants and stores and is convenient to movie theaters and Union Square Park. There is excellent public transportation nearby although traffic is heavy in this area.
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