We thought we'd heard the last of Harlem's Lotta Condominiums when the building, a harbinger of the neighborhood's condo oversupply, decided to go nondo and become a lotta youth hostel beds instead. But we shouldn't have counted out 159 West 118th Street from the Harlem condo action, because The Real Deal reports that the building has just sold for $19.5 million to Gaia Real Estate, which plans to put it back on the market as condos and rentals. A lotta this is starting to sound familiar! The hostel's owners chose to sell once they realized they'd gotten "bad advice" about zoning, and that a condo was still the better bet. But that might depend on how sales, with likely asking prices around $650 or $700 per square foot, go. Will there be a lotta takers?
Another Harlem developer, Tahl Propp Equities, might actually have less luck than the various owners of the Lotta condos. Tahl Propp wants to buy a city-owned chunk of land next to 127 East 107th Street, which he owns already. As DNAinfo explains, Joseph Tahl's on a bit of an expansion tear, hoping to use the land for 175 units of affordable housing. There's just one problem: the tenants of Tahl's existing 3,000 apartments, which have 1,400 housing violations among them, don't think that's such a good idea. They're urging Community Board 11 not to write the letter of recommendation Tahl needs to buy the city land. If CB 11 does write it, Tahl might want to give that one a read before handing it in.
· Shuttered Harlem hostel closes for $19.5M [Real Deal]
· Harlem Developer Faces Opposition from Current Tenants [DNAinfo]
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