Old Garage May Become Residential Housing: Report

An Upper West Side parking garage tied to the Zabar family and once ordered to close due to unsafe conditions may be redeveloped into a residential property.

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The six-story garage at 214 West 80th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway) was purchased by Yevgeniy Lvovskiy of ZHL Group for $10.5 million. Crain’s New York Business reports that the selling party includes Stanley Zabar, co-owner of Zabar’s, a famed UWS grocery establishment less than a half block from the garage. Zabar had a 50% stake in the garage, splitting equity even with Friedland Partners.

The Zabars and Friedland Partners have a long legal history which most recently bubbled up over 2231 Broadway, another property in the neighborhood which both groups have an ownership stake in.

Crain’s spoke to Andreas Efthymiou, a broker on the deal, who called the lot a “rare development opportunity” and suggested it would likely become residential. The property was originally listed for $9.8 million and boasts 20,000 buildable square feet and the ability to develop for mixed-use, residential condominiums, or single-use occupancies. The lot also sits a few hundred yards from the 79th Street subway station.

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While ZHL Group’s exact plans for the property remain unclear, the firm recently purchased a $28 million property in Long Island City where it plans to develop housing. The Brooklyn-based company is also developing 350 West 44th Street (between Eighth and Ninth avenues), another residential building.

The garage near Zabars made news in late 2023 as it was ordered to abruptly close after the city found its conditions to be “imminently perilous to life.” The garage, operated by SP+ Parking at the time, closed before allowing customers to retrieve their vehicles.

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