304 Fifth Avenue (Interior photo credit: Corcoran)
Considering the number of questionable gambles realized in the city, developing a modest 20,000-SF building on Fifth Avenue seems like a relatively safe bet. But just one block south of the Empire State Building — you know, that 102-floor office tower finished at the onset of the Great Depression whose mast was made to moor blimps — a 13-floor high-rise at 304 Fifth Avenue has been in the works for more than a decade and now sits empty awaiting a buyer.
Like the dozens of towers built in the city each year, plans for the 20-foot-wide lot between 31st and 32nd Streets came to light as a permit application filed in September 2005. Well-positioned to satiate demand in the emerging NoMad neighborhood, plans called for a mixed-use building with 2,000-SF of street-level retail, office condos on floors 2-4, and 11 condo residences above. The permit was filed by Eli Cohen who purchased the property in 2005 for $3 million and then sold it to The Wings Group in 2007 for $7.5 million. With the economy still surging, The Wings Group announced that sales would begin in mid-2008 on 11 two-bedroom apartments priced from $1,400 per square foot. In came 2008 and went with it no sales, no construction and no market.
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In 2010, the site was traded for a loss to an LLC named The Development Group of NYP. New plans were filed calling for more office space and a façade of pink marble, green glass, and faint Art Deco flourishes. Signage posted on the retail storefront now reveal that the building is for sale with an asking price of $45 million.
The Corcoran Group’s Carrie Chiang Team is exclusively handling the marketing. Touted building features include a grand entry lobby with double-height ceilings and spacious waiting area, nine 14,700-SF office floors, and four residential floors with fully equipped kitchens and outdoor terraces. The residential floors can be combined into one quadraplex and topping the building is a roof deck with nosebleed views of the Empire State Building.
The Corcoran Group’s Carrie Chiang Team is exclusively handling the marketing. Touted building features include a grand entry lobby with double-height ceilings and spacious waiting area, nine 14,700-SF office floors, and four residential floors with fully equipped kitchens and outdoor terraces. The residential floors can be combined into one quadraplex and topping the building is a roof deck with nosebleed views of the Empire State Building.
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