Trio of Bowery Lighting District Buildings Sells for $24M

Seven months after a slate of Bowery buildings first hit the market, a buyer just emerged.

The family of Bowery landlord David A. Cohen sold 162-166 Bowery to investor Ari Zagdanski (Kinsmen Property Group) for $23.5 million, which is $6.5 million under the initial asking price. The deal reportedly went through this week, thus ending the decades-long ownership of the Cohens (since the 1970s).

The assemblage initially made the rounds as a “prime development opportunity” back in November, but there are reportedly no immediate plans to raze and rebuild. According to a report in the Real Deal, the site had a contract with a different broker, but the deal fell apart. (Jan Sasson is said broker, which we first reported last year.) Instead of re-developing 162-166 Bowery, Zagdanski will instead focus on the “retail spaces, where leases are expiring in the mid-term.”

The three properties have two retail units and 11 residential apartments spanning 23,379 square-feet. There are additional air rights of 21,249 square-feet.

So, either way, the lighting stores are fucked. Oggi had already folded in April 2016; The Lighthouse is officially endangered.

Until now, the west side of the Bowery on this block between Kenmare and Broome Streets was one of the stronger holdouts of the once-bright lighting district here. It’s down to three vendors – The Lighthouse, Lighting by Gregory, and the Lighting Studio.