720 West End Avenue Hits Market, Senior Housing Redevelopment Likely
By Cathy Cunningham June 14, 2021 9:30 am
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The 16-story property at 720 West End Avenue on the Upper West Side is up for sale, Commercial Observer has learned.
The building will be delivered completely vacant — a rarity — and gutted inside, allowing the buyer to explore various possible investment options, including a co-living concept or senior housing, sources said.
It’s expected to trade for roughly $180 million, or $650 per square foot.
A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Adam Spies, Adam Doneger, Michael Collins and Maurice Suede is marketing the sale, according to an offering memorandum obtained by CO. Officials at the brokerage declined to comment.
The property sits in a prime location on the corner of West End Avenue and West 95th Street, with more than 125 feet of corner frontage on each side. It’s located one block to the 96th Street subway hub, and a short walk from Riverside Park and the Broadway retail and entertainment corridor.
Brack Capital Real Estate is the seller, having purchased the asset in 2015 with plans to redevelop it into a condominium building. Previously, 720 West End Avenue was home to a 352-unit Salvation Army-run senior housing center. According to Patch, the organization arranged for senior residents to vacate the building by the end of 2017 to make way for the sale to Brack Capital.
By 2018, Brack Capital had filed plans for a Morris Adjmi-designed condominium conversion and expansion of the building, according to New York YIMBY.
The C&W offering for the current sale includes approvals for those plans — from both the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission — and will allow the new owner to add another 14,933 square feet above grade and 3,782 square feet below grade.
While the trade is expected to attract value-add residential investors as well as senior housing investors, preliminary market chatter suggests a senior housing play is most likely — returning the property to its former use — sources said.
“It’s likely going to end up as senior housing,” one investor said. “It’s zoned for it, and a very rare opportunity to buy a sizable building that’s good to go, in terms of being vacant and gutted. It’s a blank canvas right now.”
The seniors housing sector is on a positive growth trajectory, due to increased long-term demand from an aging baby boomer population, and that demand has only been crystallized by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a May report by JLL Valuation Advisory. Additionally, construction delays will only further exacerbate the long-term supply shortage in senior housing, leaving investors bullish on seniors housing and care investments, the report stated.
Officials at Brack Capital could not be reached for comment.
