The Calhoun School has finalized the sale of its lower school building at 160 W. 74th St. to Bayrock Capital, a private investment firm, for $14 million. The building will be converted to residences according to Cushman & Wakefield, who brokered the sale (according to a report in Crain’s New York).
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The announcement comes roughly 15 months after The Calhoun School announced plans to merge with Metropolitan Montessori School. The merger went into effect July 1, by which point The Calhoun School had completed the move of its lower building to Metropolitan’s campus at 325 West 85th Street.
Due to its historic district designation, the property at 160 W. 74th St. will be required to maintain its facade under new ownership. A representative from Cushman & Wakefield told ILTUWS in August 2022 they were aiming to get something in the mid-$20 million range for the more than 22,000 square foot building between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues.
Steven Solnick of The Calhoun School told Crain’s that the proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down the debt on the building that housed the Metropolitan Montessori School.
“So, in effect,” Solnick told Crain’s, “we’re swapping one lower school building for another; there’s no other huge windfall to the school as a result of the sale.”
Known as the Robert L. Beir Lower School Building, 160 West 74th Street has operated as a school since it was built in 1896. A virtual tour of the building can be viewed here.
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According to marketing materials from Cushman, the building is currently configured as “a mix of classrooms, administrative offices, a theater, gymnasium, multiple ancillary spaces, a conference room, and a fully programmed playground on the 2nd floor roof with sport turf, climbing walls and play systems.”
Bayrock Capital, the buyer, bills itself as “a private investment firm that offers a unique buying and investment experience to discerning investors with diverse real estate investment needs.” The Calhoun School transaction continues a streak of recent real estate investments in the New York area including the purchase of a Long Island City Holiday Inn for $77 million, a hotel and parking lot near LaGuardia Airport, and a Bronx hotel for $4.7 million.
Oh, goodie! More unaffordable apartments. Another lost opportunity to acquire land for affordable housing. Yes, it would have required money outside the market system — through tax credits, non-profit participation etc. Still, a lost opportunity. And they are so rare
Dang… asking $25Mil and selling for $14Mil?
I coulda bought that joint!
Big open spaces / Red Diaper hood = Artists’ Studios and best Gallery on the East Coast.
They come in, flip to rich Russian oligarchs or outta town Hedge Fund Nouveau in the name of making a few bucks and ruin the neighborhood.
The buyer’s website looks shady, just like this deal sounds. They claim they bought a Holiday Inn near LGA… oh god, here it goes.
LOOK OUT NEIGHBORHOOD!
A school since 1896, and a beautiful school that must have meant so much to teachers and students. Now to become more unaffordable garbage that means nothing to anybody. Tears for the neighborhood. Vanishing NY.
From another angle: What’s to become of MMS, an exceptional Montessori school on the UWS? While my daughter left to attend a private school, her classmates ended up getting such a rich education that what was the supposed equivalent of 6th grade, the last “grade” (i.e. Montessori model is not grade-based, Google for more information) that they left Metropolitan Montessori School to enter 8th grade at conventional private and public schools in the area, skipping 7th altogether. From the way the article was written, it sounds like Calhoun is buying the real estate and Metropolitan Montessori is gone or shortly will be.
That’s the biggest shame of all.
Shame on Calhoun. Bay rock is vile. The school could have found a buyer committed to affordable housing. Instead…