The mystery buyer who paid $128 million for the United Charities Building at 287 Park Avenue South (alternately, 105 East 22nd Street) has been revealed as Chinese developer Cheerland Investments by the Wall Street Journal. Cheerland, completely unsurprisingly, is going to convert the former nonprofit headquarters into expensive condos. As one of the brokers involved with the sale explained, the price of over $1,200 per square foot would have make anything other than condos economically unfeasible.
Prior to this sale, the 1892 Renaissance Revival-style building had never changed hands since it was developed by philanthropist John Kennedy. It was owned by a trio of nonprofits, and according to previous reports, the money from the sale will be split up between them with $63.5 million going to the Community Service Society, $31.8 million to the Children's Aid Society, and $31.9 million to the New York City Mission. This deal is part of a larger trend, where nonprofits city-wide are taking advantage of a hot condo-development market and selling off their headquarters, downsizing to smaller ones or moving to less pricey areas.
· What's the Deal: News Digest [WSJ]
· 287 Park Avenue South coverage [Curbed]
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