The sale of a century-old garment manufacturing building two blocks from Penn Station shows how the market for Manhattan commercial real estate has rebounded over the past year.
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Cayre Equities sold a 90% stake in 254 W. 35th St. in the Garment District for $26.2M, according to a deed filed in the New York City register on Thursday.
The Manhattan-based firm, founded by Kenneth Cayre, acquired the 16-story building in December 2024 for $16.2M. Cayre planned to convert the 106K SF office building to self-storage, The Real Deal reported.
No permits have been filed at the property since 2019, according to the Department of Buildings database. Cayre didn't respond to a request for comment.
Joyland Management purchased the property, which sits between Seventh and Eighth avenues in an area that was rezoned last year to allow residential conversions. An application to convert the building to apartments was filed at the address last month by a person named Jack Poll, PincusCo reported.
The Brooklyn-based firm, owned by Joel Wertzberger, took out an $18.5M mortgage with Levon Capital LLC to finance the purchase. An $8.5M loan from Metropolitan Commercial Bank, originated for Cayre's purchase, was assigned to New Jersey-based Levon Capital, which consolidated the debt into a $27M mortgage.
On the same day as the sale, an entity registered to Mendel Fleischman, who leads Brooklyn developer Garden Group, signed a $6.8M, 99-year ground lease for the building, according to the city register.
Fleischman has developed a handful of apartment projects in Brooklyn, but it is unclear if he has previously taken on a Manhattan project.
Neither Fleischman nor Joyland Management CEO Judy Minster responded to Bisnow's requests for comment.
Cayre's tidy profit on the building is reflective of the broader shift in Manhattan real estate — office sales in 2025 averaged $602 per SF, up 34% from 2024, according to Avison Young.
UPDATE, FEB. 6, 11:05 A.M. ET: This story has been updated to reflect that an application for a residential conversion has been filed at the building.
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