New York's iconic "Flatiron" skyscraper sold at auction for $190 million

This iconic building was purchased by Jacob Garlick, founder of the Abraham Trust investment fund. He pledged to "preserve its integrity forever. »

 

It is a skyscraper and emblematic of New York: the "Flatiron" with its distinctive architecture of the early twentieth century was sold Wednesday at auction for $ 190 million, under the injunction of the city's justice to settle a dispute between its owners.

 

It is the financier Jacob Garlick, founder of the investment fund Abraham Trust, who took away this "Iron", empty since 2019, confirmed this Thursday the commissioner Matthew Mannion of the auction company Mannion Auctions. The buyer will have to pay by Friday evening "10% of this amount - 19 million dollars - otherwise the property will go to the second bidder, Jeff Gural, who represented 75% of the owners and offered 189.5 million dollars," according to Matthew Mannion.

  

The "Flatiron Building" is a 22-story, 87-meter-high office building located in Manhattan's Midtown district, at the intersection of 22nd Street, Fifth Avenueand Broadway. Its shape, like an "iron", recognizable among all and which gave it its name, is explained by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, the only avenue in Manhattan that is not aligned with the rectilinear plan of the island.

 

Built in two years and completed in 1902, the "Flatiron" was built by an architect of the Chicago school, Daniel Burnham, in the Beaux-Arts style, like many New York buildings, for example the huge Grand Central Station. The loser, Jeff Gural, said he was "a little shocked" on local NY1 television that "someone would bid so hard for this piece of the city's heritage". "It's a beautiful building, but it needs $100 million in renovations," he warned.

 

"It's been a dream since I was 14," rejoiced the lucky winner, Jacob Garlick, on the same channel, pledging to "preserve its integrity forever." The "Iron" was empty since 2019 when its last tenant, the publisher MacMillan Publishers, left. The five owners had not been able to agree on its renovation, nor on its use. Four real estate companies - GFP Real Estate, Newmark, ABS Real Estate Partners and the Sorgente Group - controlled 75 percent of it. The fifth partner, Nathan Silverstein, controlled the remaining 25%.

 

In 2021, the four companies sued Silverstein, accusing him of leaving the "Flatiron" empty. Silverstein fought back in a New York court, alleging that they wanted to lease the skyscraper at a below-market price, according to CNBC television. The municipal court ordered the five owners to sell at auction.