Regency East Co-op Scoops Ground Floor Retail Units for $5.5 M.
By Al Barbarino July 31, 2013 11:27 am
reprintsRegency East Apartment Corporation, the owner of the 18-story, 147-unit Regency East co-op apartment building at 301 East 64th Street on the Upper East Side, has purchased the 13-year master lease on its four ground floor retail units for $5.5 million, The Commercial Observer has learned.
The purchase of the 12,200 square feet of combined retail space is a potential opportunity to raise rents to market-rate once the leases come due in the coming three to five years.
“The most logical player for this deal was the co-op… because the corporation will retain the properties when the leases expire,” said Eastern Consolidated’s Martin Ezratty, who represented the seller, Onyx Corp, and procured the buyer.
The property, situated on the northeast corner of East 64th Street and Second Avenue, is home to an 8,000-square-foot Gourmet Garage marketplace; a 1,500-square-foot H&R Block; a 1,800-square-foot Furry Paws pet store; and a 900-square-foot nail salon.
“The co-op can now offer them a future,” Mr. Ezratty said. “They can increase cash flow and take control over who comes into the building.”
The retail portion of the Regency East, built in 1963 and converted in 1987, is situated on the ground floor of the luxury apartment tower, situated on a tree-lined Lenox Hill block, just a short walk to Central Park, shopping and dining on Fifth and Madison Avenues.
The Second Avenue Subway, though decades overdue, is also scheduled to cut through the area and will offer two alternative subway stops within walking distance of the co-op.
“The anticipation of the Second Avenue Subway is driving many investors to consider long-term, strategic retail investments close to the new stations,” Mr. Ezratty said. “It will eventually be another positive for the area.”
