A Thousand Looks Later, UWS Apartment Building Feud Ends

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114 west 86th street A Thousand Looks Later, UWS Apartment Building Feud EndsThe long-disputed Upper West Side apartment building at the heart of a legal battle that has zig-zagged through courts in Florida, California and New York was sold at auction for $20.1 million to a private investor from New York City, The Observer has learned.

The 49-unit building at 114 West 86th Street went on the block through a New York bankruptcy court on May 4, and sources familiar with the deal said the winning bidder is Robert Gilardian.

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Eastern Consolidated director Lipa Lieberman and principal David Schechtman served as the exclusive brokers for the sale of the property, which has been at the core of a bitter family feud between a woman in Beverly Hills and her stepfather in New York since at least 2003. Some observers believed that Bernstein Real Estate’s pre-existing stalking horse bid of $17.9 million might prevail. Either way, rarely do you see a residential piece on 86th Street trade.

“In the 11 years I’ve been in the business I’ve rarely seen such a hotly contested bidding war for a 49-unit pre-war apartment building,” said Mr. Schechtman, who added that, of hundreds of signed confidentiality agreements submitted, four bidders emerged. “There were plus or minus a thousand parties that analyzed this property.”

“We were successful in obtaining a price well in excess of the pre-existing bid on the building, which is a testament to the strength of the market for well-located, under-performing, multifamily residences,” said Mr. Lieberman, who added that 30 of the building’s 49 units are rent-regulated.

jsederstrom@observer.com