Lower East Side’s Rivington House sells for $159.6M to mystery buyer

The years-long Rivington House saga has taken an unexpected turn: The Real Deal reports that Slate Property Group and its partners have sold the former nursing home, located at 45 Rivington Street, to a mystery buyer.

City records show that Slate, along with Adam America Group and China Vanke, sold the 150,000-square-foot building for $159.6 million. Law firm Goulston & Storrs is listed as a representative for the buyer in the sale documents.

“We are pleased with this outcome, and that we could work with Mt. Sinai on a long-term lease to ensure that Rivington House will remain a healthcare facility serving New Yorkers in need for decades to come,” Evan Thies, a spokesperson for Slate Property Group, told Curbed in a statement.

But City Council member Margaret Chin, who represents that district, said the sale was “deeply upsetting,” and condemned the developers for “continuously playing hot potato with this property, and lining their own pockets at the expense of the community—while constantly keeping everyone in the dark.”

“My office has been leading an effort to hold Allure accountable to what was agreed to in the settlement, and working with Community Board 3 and the Neighbors to Save Rivington House to return much-needed nursing home beds to the community,” Chin said in a statement. “We need transparency now, and I demand the new owner to publicly come forward immediately and make a case to residents for how it will be a community partner.”

Allure Group, the for-profit healthcare company that bought the property in 2014, paid $16 million to a city agency under the de Blasio administration to lift a deed restriction at the site before selling it to Slate Property Group and its partners in 2016 for $116 million. The removal of that deed restriction would have allowed the developers to move forward with their plans to build luxury condos at the former nursing home site.

The move was investigated by then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Scott Stringer. Schneiderman’s investigation resulted in a settlement that required Allure to pay $1.25 million to Lower East Side nonprofits and $750,000 to the state. In July, the Lo-Down reported that Mount Sinai had filed plans to build a behavioral center at the site.