Sales have started at The Olcott, the 16-story residential condominium at 27 West 72nd Street.

The orange-brick building was erected as an apartment hotel in 1925 and is in the Upper West Side Central Park West Historic District.

It was acquired in 2004 for about $70 million by Mose Dan-Azougi, executive vice president and head of the U.S. office of Brack Capital, and Laurence Gluck of Stellar Management from the Slutsky and Borshuck families that had owned it since 1951 and had previously owned the Nevelle Hotel in Ellenville, N..Y.

A non-eviction offering plan was submitted December 28, 2004 to the New York State Attorney General's Office with a total purchase price for tenants of $93,549,245 and for non-tenants of $99,072,890.

The building has about 227 units of which 192 are residential, 31 are professional, three are commercial and one is a "lounge unit" on the roof. Of the residential units 102 are rentals and 90 are transient. The offering plan only involves 99 of the rental units.

The offering plan noted that the sponsors' approximate costs in the conversion come to about $80.8 million and that their profits if all the units on sale sold at the offered prices in the plan would be $12,750,000.

The offering plan notes that the sponsor anticipates converting some of the non-residential units to residential units but added that "the sponsor is under no obligation to do so." The professional units in the building are on the second through the ninth floors.

The mid-block building, which was designed by George Pelham, extends through the block to 73rd Street and it is on the same block as the famous Dakota apartment building that fronts on Central Park West.

One of the commercial units in the building is Dallas BBQ, a restaurant.

A one-bedroom apartment with about 730 square feet is priced at about $855,000. A two-bedroom, two-bath apartment with 1,080 square feet is priced at about $1,350,000. A three-bedroom, three-bath apartment 1,828 square feet is priced at about $2,850,000.

The 170-foot tall building has a large entrance marquee and a limestone band course above the third floor, false balconies on the sixth and ninth floors, a terra cotta band course above the 12th floor, and a nice projecting terracotta cornice.

It has a three-story rusticated limestone base with arched windows on the 2nd and 15th floors. The building has a bicycle room, a fitness center and a children's playroom. The lobby has marble columns and ornate elevators. Kitchens have Sub-Zero refrigerators, Dacor cooktops and wall ovens and Miele dishwashers.



It has an exposed rooftop watertank, consistent fenestration with 6-over-1 windows, and discrete air-conditioners.

The Brack Capital Real Estate portfolio also includes 90 West Street, the great Cass Gilbert skyscraper that was damaged in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 150 East 85th Street, Chartwell House, and a new residential construction project known as Element at 555 West 59th Street.