Hiwin Group Buys Vacant Lot at 8 West 45th Street for Residential Building
By Isabelle Durso March 17, 2025 5:05 pm
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Hiwin Group USA, a developer based in Flushing, Queens, has acquired a vacant lot in Midtown for $38.5 million, with plans to build a residential tower on the site.
Hiwin purchased the 9,241-square-foot lot at 8 West 45th Street from Belvedere Property Management in the all-cash transaction, according to broker Development Site Advisors (DSA).
Hiwin CEO Anthony Hu signed for the buyer, while Zohar Ben-Dov, owner of Belvedere, signed for the seller, DSA said.
“This was an especially complex deal, given the number of parties involved and the competitive nature of the site,” DSA’s Lev Kimyagarov, who brokered the deal for both the buyer and the seller, said in a statement.
“Our deep understanding of zoning, market trends and deal structuring allowed us to successfully align the seller’s goals with a developer capable of maximizing the site’s value,” Kimyagarov added.
Spokespeople for Hiwin and Belvedere did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Belvedere bought the vacant site between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas in 2020 for an undisclosed amount, property records show.
Under its new ownership, Hiwin intends to develop a mixed-use building on the site that will include 9,241 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 101,651 square feet of market-rate residential condominium units above, Kimyagarov said.
Plans for the development are expected to be filed with New York City’s Department of Buildings sometime this week, Kimyagarov said.
And it’s not Hiwin’s first residential development in Manhattan.
In May, Hiwin bought 240 West 54th Street, formerly home to Mexican restaurant Iguana New York, for $21 million with plans to replace the now-defunct eatery and Latin dance club with a residential building, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
The developer also acquired another Manhattan development site in April at 112 Liberty Street for about $21.7 million, as CO reported.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
