SIGNS OF LIFE!

Warburg has long been a fixture on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and, since 2003 has become one of leading brokerage and marketing firms serving the Harlem market.

In a complex move that will have a positive impact on both neighborhoods, Hunter College School of Social Work announced yesterday that it will be moving from its current Upper East Side site on East 79th Street which it has occupied for 40 years, to a new $135 million development in East Harlem. In turn, Hunter’s old site on one of the East Side’s coveted sites between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue, will be developed into luxury condominiums

The school’s current building is being sold for $65 million to Dan Brodsky, a private developer. Under the terms of the agreement, $40 million of the sales proceeds will be donated to pay for Hunter’s new, larger school building on 118th Street and Third Avenue. The remaining $95 million for the new Hunter building will come from state education funds appropriated last spring. Brodsky will build the social work school “at cost” (plus an administrative fee). The site of the new school building was acquired by Hunter earlier this year, and currently consists of a vacant lot and low-rise buildings. No residential tenants will be relocated.

Hunter’s new school building is just another example of new development in the burgeoning East Harlem Market. The long awaited East River Plaza complex is due to open in 2009, with a number of high profile commercial/retail tenants. Warburg is currently marketing The Ivy Condominium, just a block from Hunter’s new school. Later this fall, ground will be broken on Tapestry, an exciting new 150 unit rental property at 124th Street & Second Avenue being developed by the Jonathan Rose Companies. And in Spring 2009, Warburg will be launching Tesoro, a new luxury condominium at 317 East 111th Street.

Once the new Hunter building is completed in East Harlem, the Brodsky Organization (which owns over 50 buildings in New York City) can then build on the coveted 79th Street site. Brodsky is paying a premium price — nearly $650 a square foot – but would most likely not have to seek zoning changes for a new residential building there – probably a luxury condominium — the current 10-story school rises to a height equivalent to that of an 18-story apartment building. The property is just blocks away from several Warburg developments – including Diamond House Condominium, just blocks away at 170 East 77th Street, and the boutique condominium being developed at 180 East 93rd Street – and larger luxury properties being developed by Extel, Related, Alexico and other firms..