It could be a bit early for back-to-school, however actual property dealmaking doesn’t take a summer time break.
Sam Charney offered his student-housing venture at 99 Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights to Columbia College for $122 million, The Actual Deal has discovered.
Charney Firms purchased the Gothic-style constructing that after served as a dorm for the Union Theological Seminary for $38 million in 2024, after which renovated it right into a 300-student residence.
The property is “Columbia’s first residence corridor devoted completely to college students enrolled within the Columbia Faculty of Normal Research,” in line with the Ivy League college’s web site.
The coed housing — which features a health heart, communal chef’s kitchen and roof deck — is about to open to college students within the fall.
A spokesperson for Charney declined to remark and a consultant for Columbia didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Charney is likely one of the most lively residential builders within the metropolis with a big pipeline of initiatives in Brooklyn — significantly in Gowanus, the place he and his companions at Tavros Capital are remaking the neighborhood with some 2,000 new apartments throughout 4 new buildings.
For 99 Claremont, his first venture in Manhattan, Charney teamed up with Criterion Actual Property Capital and financed the renovation with a $55 million mortgage from Madison Realty Capital.
“There have been so many particular, historic issues about this property,” Charney stated in an Instagram video final yr, explaining that the constructing’s slim width allowed a number of mild and air to return by its many home windows. “The ground plate allowed us to create actually small items. Naturally, being two blocks from Columbia, we stated, ‘We’ve got a housing disaster in New York. We’ve got a scholar housing disaster in New York. What are small items good for? Excellent for dorm rooms.’”
The Union Theological Seminary, which has had an affiliation with Columbia going again to the Twenties, had reportedly struck a deal in 2018 to promote what was then referred to as McGiffert Corridor to developer Craig Nassi’s BCN Improvement for $50 million.
However the church as a substitute offered it for $46.5 million to Riverside Church, which finally offered it to Charney six years later.
Columbia, in the meantime, has performed some notable offers not too long ago.
Earlier this yr, the college offered a scholar housing property within the Bronx to Fetner Properties and PGIM closed for $65 million. And in 2022, it paid $84 million for a improvement website that may accommodate 219,000 sq. ft.
Learn extra
Riverside Church buys Union Theological Seminary dorm for $47M
Fetner, PGIM team up on $65M Columbia student housing buy
Columbia University picks up former supermarket site for $84M
