New York’s iconic Flatiron building, located in midtown Manhattan, has been sold at auction, sparking controversy among its owner, who had kept it vacant for four years.
The buyer is Jacob Garlick, a member of the Abraham Trust foundation, investing money specifically in different projects, which, as soon as the sale was completed, told NY1 television: “It was a dream that I had in my whole life since I was 14 years old, Our mission will be to will always preserve its integrity”, as regards its historical and architectural uniqueness.
The auction had only two protagonists: Allium and another real estate capitalist, Jeffrey Gural, GFP Real Estate; According to the same chain, the price lasted 45 minutes, in which the two tycoons raised the price of the opponent half a million.
The Flatiron Building, Daniel Burnham’s 1902 triangular tower, nicknamed the Iron Curtain near Broadway.
Many people, both from the real sector and from architecture lovers, came to observe this unique auction that was ordered by the judge to end the endless dispute between his co-heirs, who were four real companies (GFP among them) and a. businessman
After all, the conditions of the auction are leonine: if Allium does not put the price on the table on Friday, that is, 19 million, the building goes to the second bidding, and if he does not have it. it was increased again.
The Flatiron, built in 1902 on a triangular base (at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue) and overlooking Madison Square Park, was vacant in 2019 when the last tenant McMillan Publishers left, occupying its 21 floors. .
The Flatiron Building in Manhattan was built in 1902 and is one of the greatest pieces of old architecture from the early 20th century.
Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederic Dinkelberg, it became one of the tallest buildings in the city upon its completion, and even for several years was only one of the two “heavens” located north of 14th Street; the other was near the Metropolitan Insurance Company Tower, completed in 1909.
It is not clear what the new owner will do with the skyscraper, whether it will be an office building that will be the first office, a luxury hotel or a luxury apartment building.
The farmer Gural, in imitation of the famous story of the fox and the grape, said after the auction: “I’m kind of hallucinated, really. I never thought that someone would bid so high for a building. It’s a beautiful thing; but it needs a hundred million to fix it, now it’s mostly empty.
