City Urban Realty Buys 244 West 72nd Street for $40M

City Urban Realty has acquired a residential building at 244 West 72nd Street for $40 million from the Ohebshalom family’s Empire Management, Commercial Observer has learned. 

This is the first time in 35 years that the 88-unit Upper West Side multifamily property has changed hands, a source with knowledge of the deal told CO. The transaction closed at roughly $450 per square foot. 

The 16-story building on 72nd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue spans over 88,000 square feet. 

Michael Alvandi and Harry Hochman managed the deal for City Urban, but it is unclear who handled the sale for Empire Management. City Urban declined to comment on the acquisition. Empire Management did not respond to a request for comment. 

It is unclear what City Urban plans to do with the building, which was built in 1928, but the investment firm has a history of refurbishing and repositioning its assets.

Some of the firm’s other acquisitions include the 2019 purchase of a 26-unit multifamily building in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood for $15 million, and the purchase of an office property at 243 Canal Street for $25 million.

The sale of 244 West 72nd Street is another win for Fred Ohebshalom’s embattled firm, as Empire Management recently avoided a foreclosure on its NoMad hotel at 250 Fifth Avenue. 

Empire refinanced that property earlier this month with Columbia Pacific and an affiliate of KSL Capital Partners, CO previously reported. The firms have taken over the $82 million distressed loan on the property from Madison Realty Capital. 

Empire has a portfolio of more than 2,000 multifamily residential buildings and over 1 million square feet of commercial space, but the company is $310.7 million in debt with lenders Barclays, Santander and New York Community Bank. 

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.