The “pink building” at the corner of Grand and Orchard streets and adjoining properties have reportedly been sold for $27 million.
Earlier this summer, we reported that the “pink building,” a historic landmark, and adjoining properties on Orchard Street had been sold. At the time, the sale price and the new owner of the former Ridley Department Store complex were being kept confidential. According to Crain’s, the secret is out: Waterbridge Capital has purchased the five buildings and plans a high-end retail transformation along a gentrifying stretch of the Lower East Side.
Waterbridge Capital, the clever real estate investment company founded by Joel Schreiber, is making a nearly $30 million bet on the Lower East Side’s continued transformation into a residential and retail neighborhood that looks more like neighboring SoHo than Chinatown. The company has snapped up five contiguous buildings at 57-63 Orchard St. for $27 million with an eye toward converting their 11,200 square feet of ground floor retail space into high-end fashion boutiques and shops.
Last fall, the Landmarks Preservation Commission protected 319-321 Grand St., which is part of Waterbridge’s new portfolio. Ridley, once the largest department store in New York, closed in 1901. When it was designated, the commission praised the 1886 building as a rare example of cast iron construction and a monument to the LES’s mercantile past.
The five-story landmarked building and the neighboring properties both carry garment district zoning, meaning a special permit would be required for residential development. A third building, a two-story-structure, does not carry the restrictive garment district designation, so it would be easier to develop. That property could be built to 73,000 square feet, so there are significant air rights.
The properties were previously owned by the Goldman family. The deal was brokered ny Massey Knakal’s Michael DeCheser.
