Gaia Real Estate, an Israeli investment firm, has purchased the attractive, five-story building 159 West 118th Street, a condominium-turned-hostel that was shuttered by the Department of Buildings in April 2010, according to an article yesterday by Amy Tennery at therealdeal.com.
The building had been known as Lotta Condominiums, was transformed back into a condo following its one-and-a-half-year stint as a youth hostel.
According to Amir Yerushalmi, a managing partner of Gaia, it will be marketed as a mix of condo units and rentals, the article said, adding that the sales price was $19.5 million.
The building, which originally was supposed to contain 35 apartments, is also known as 1961 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard.
It is the second building that Gaia has bought on the Upper West Side in the last six months, the article said, adding that "the other is a 48-unit rent-regulated building at 5 West 91st Street that Gaia purchased from developer Larry Gluck for $16.75 million last September, Yerushalmi said."
The seller of 159 West 118th Street was Gal Sela, an independent investor who bought the building with partner Eli Idi in 2005 for roughly $2 million less than its closing price now. The article said that he first tried to market the condo units in early 2008 but only one apartment went into contract in the first few months and the sales effort was cancelled in late 2008.
Mr. Sela and Mr. Idi reopened the building as a youth hostel in August, 2008, the article said, but it was closed by the Department of Buildings due to improper zoning. The article also said that Mr. Sela maintained that he and Mr. Idi got "bad advice from zoning people and zoning lawyers."
The building had been known as Lotta Condominiums, was transformed back into a condo following its one-and-a-half-year stint as a youth hostel.
According to Amir Yerushalmi, a managing partner of Gaia, it will be marketed as a mix of condo units and rentals, the article said, adding that the sales price was $19.5 million.
The building, which originally was supposed to contain 35 apartments, is also known as 1961 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard.
It is the second building that Gaia has bought on the Upper West Side in the last six months, the article said, adding that "the other is a 48-unit rent-regulated building at 5 West 91st Street that Gaia purchased from developer Larry Gluck for $16.75 million last September, Yerushalmi said."
The seller of 159 West 118th Street was Gal Sela, an independent investor who bought the building with partner Eli Idi in 2005 for roughly $2 million less than its closing price now. The article said that he first tried to market the condo units in early 2008 but only one apartment went into contract in the first few months and the sales effort was cancelled in late 2008.
Mr. Sela and Mr. Idi reopened the building as a youth hostel in August, 2008, the article said, but it was closed by the Department of Buildings due to improper zoning. The article also said that Mr. Sela maintained that he and Mr. Idi got "bad advice from zoning people and zoning lawyers."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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