Jackpot: Jay Maisel Sold the Graffiti Covered 190 Bowery for $55M
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Guess the deal went through.
Public paperwork filed with the city yesterday evening reveals that the Germania Bank Building sold for a whopping $55 million. Doing the math, that’s a 539-fold return on investment for photographer Jay Maisel and his family.
As we’ve been reporting, the high-profile transaction transpired last September. Developers had been courting Maisel for years trying to acquire the 37,000 square-foot landmark. Ultimately it was the Aby Rosen who was able to force a sale. (Apparently the 84-year-old didn’t want to spend another cold winter there) The new owner wasted no time in re-listing the property (via Massey Knakal), an asset which should fetch way more than the sale price.
Expect condos and their high-end counterparts to arrive in the near future.
Maisel purchased the Germania Bank Building in 1966 for $102,000. As the urban lore goes, the artist and family refused to scrub the graffiti because the city allegedly rebuffed his attempts to do the same in the bad old days of the Bowery.
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