Enormous Upper East Side parking garage with megamansion potential sells for $25M

Update, 11/17/17: According to the Real Deal, the property at 177 East 73rd Street found a buyer—and it’s none other than the Moinian Group, which picked up the property for $25 million. That’s a significant decrease from its original $42 million price tag. It’s unclear at this time what Moinian plans to do with the property—raze it, convert it, or put it into use as a gigantic single-family home for founder Joseph Moinian.

When this parking garage-turned-possible megamansion first hit the market last year, it was asking $42.5 million—a price that many commenters, at the time, said was way too high considering the location (close to Third Avenue on the Upper East Side), and the fact that it would need to be converted to a single-family home.

And commenters, you weren’t wrong: the listing reappeared today with a different broker (Corcoran instead of Brown Harris Stevens), and a lower price; it’s now asking $29.95 million.

That price may still be a bit high, but the building itself is rather special: It was originally built in 1906 by Charles F. Hoppe, and many of its original details—including the limestone facade, designed in the Beaux Arts style; a mansard roof; and 14-foot-high barrel-vaulted ceilings—remain.

The brokerbabble calls out the space’s “tremendous potential” to become “a palatial, single-family dream townhome,” and indeed, it’s got the palatial part down: the whole thing measures nearly 18,000 square feet, and it’s 40 feet wide at its base. It’s one of the largest such spaces for sale on the Upper East Side right now, based off of StreetEasy’s data.

But $30 million is still a lot of scratch, especially since there are furnished homes (that are perhaps not as palatial) available for less in better parts of the neighborhood. For now, it’s a waiting game to see if this mansion-in-the-making finds a buyer.

• Listing: 177 East 73rd Street [Corcoran]
• Massive Mansion Could Rise At Site of UES Parking Garage [Curbed]