It might be a last gasp of a vanishing market, but a chunk of precious High Line district air rights has sold for a whopping $800 per buildable square foot.
Highcap Group’s managing principal Josh Goldflam and Senior Director Michael Ferrara brokered the sale of 4,900 square feet of High Line Transfer Corridor air rights from 509-511 W. 27th St., owned by a local partnership, to development company Six Sigma for $3.92 million.
Six Sigma will use the rights to add height and size to 517-523 W. 29th St.
The company plans to replace a six-story warehouse with a 10-story, mid-block luxury condo project.
Six Sigma, which bought the site for $54.75 million late last year, filed demolition plans with the Buildings Department in August.
The air rights sale is notable because few chunks of usable air rights remain on the market in West Chelsea.
Ferrara said, “On the surface, $800 per buildable square foot may sound like a high price, but essentially this buildable square footage is going to be added to the top of the developer’s condominium project.”
The Real Deal recently reported an overall decline in Manhattan air rights sales volume.
The story quoted City Center Real Estate President Robert Shapiro that deals are still being done between $750 and $800 per square foot in the High Line area, but only “if you can find them — that’s the trick.”
Although three Shanghai-based private equity firms recently invested in the West 29th Street project for an undisclosed sum, according to China’s Mingtiandi news service, Six Sigma President Jason Lee clarified that it is not a partnership and his company remains the developer.