Washington Heights Development Site Sells For $21 Million

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A large development site with frontages on three Washington Heights blocks is changing hands for $21 million, the real estate firm that facilitated the deal announced.

Developer Ari Sherizen of Edge Property Group is the new owner of the site — which occupies eight lots on West 165th Street, West 166th Street and Edgecombe Avenue — after buying it from an entity named Sand Realty Group, LLC, according to the brokerage firm Ariel Property Advisors. The site has a footprint of 31,576 square feet and its possible to construct a 119,370-square-foot development on the property as-of-right, the firm said.

Ariel Property Advisors agent Victor Sozio said the marketing process for the site was "highly competitive" and a "testament to the area’s continued growth and perception amongst developers."

"As developers and their investors have the opportunity to review more transaction data in the area, including rental and condominium sales comps, they will become increasingly more comfortable and attracted to an area of Manhattan offering land at close to a third of the price of its counterparts below 110th Street," Sozio said in a statement.

Developers would be able to build a 205,244-square-foot building on the site by including a community facility in the planned development, Ariel Property Advisors said in a press release.

The brokerage firm touted the site's proximity to institutions such as New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center while marketing the site. Sozio of Ariel Property Advisors beleives that Washington Heights will soon catch up to other upper Manhattan neighborhoods such as Harlem when it comes to development.

Since 2015, there have been more than 100 sales of properties listed as "development sites" in Harlem compared to just 12 in Washington Heights.

Edge Property Group's plans for the site have not been announced.

Photo courtesy Ariel Property Advisors