[Hypothalamus]

The Real Deal:

Developer snags Majestic, Broadhurst Theaters’ air rights
$17.5M deal works out to $300 a square foot -- much less than one industry expert expected

May 28, 2014 03:15PM
By Rich Bockmann


Majestic Theater (Credit: Shubert Organization)

The developer of the Roseland Ballroom site paid a pair of Broadway theaters $17.5 million earlier this month for about 60,000 square feet of air rights, property records show. That works out to $300 per square foot — half the price one expert reportedly thinks the market should fetch.

Algin Management, which already has plans to build a 59-story apartment tower on the site of the defunct 52nd Street music venue, purchased a total of 58,392 square feet of excess development rights from two theaters owned by the Shubert Organization, property records recorded last week show.

Algin bought 57,210 square feet from the Majestic Theater on West 44th Street between Eighth and Seventh Avenues for $17,163,000 and picked up another 1,182 square feet from the Broadhurst Theater next door for $354,600, records show.

Both deals closed May 7 and worked out to an even $300 a square foot.
The Shubert Organization declined to comment on the transaction, which fell well below the expectations of one expert who predicted the valuable development rights would fetch prices in the $600 range.

City Center Real Estate President Robert Shapiro told Capital NY earlier this month he thought theaters could sell their excess development rights for about $600 a foot.

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