Durst Organization buys second vacant lot in Harlem

The Durst Organization picked up a second vacant lot in Harlem, directly across from its land at 1800 Park Avenue.

The development firm, led by Douglas Durst, bought an L-shaped lot running from East 124th Street to the middle of East 125th Street at Park Avenue’s northeast corner from the Northern Manhattan Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, according to the New York Post. The lot, which the organization had used for parking, was priced at nearly $20 million.

Company spokesperson Jordan Barowitz told the newspaper that the company purchased the new lot in Harlem “to protect our investment across the street.”

Randy Modell and Steven Hornstock from ABS Partners Real Estate and Shimon Shkury from Ariel Property Advisors represented the seller.

Durst purchased the site across the street at 1800 Park Avenue last year from Ian Bruce Eichner for about $91 million. Eichner had planned to build a 32-story building with 682 apartments on the land, but the Durst Organization said when the sale went through that they would not move forward with this plan.

The developer bought the $10.4 million mortgage in March on multiple buildings that Joel Schreiber’s Waterbridge Capital owns at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and East 125th Street as well.

The Durst Organization also filed plans in June for a mixed-use project at 29-55 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City that would include 763 rental units, and it recently secured a $1 billion loan package from a group headed up by Citi Private Bank. [NYP] – Eddie Small