Zar Properties closes on NoHo mixed-use buildings for $21M

Zar Properties has bought two NoHo mixed-use buildings at 31-35 Great Jones Street for $21 million, Commercial Observer first reported. The nearly identical adjoining properties, between Lafayette Street and the Bowery, had been held by the Scott family of Great Jones St. Realty for at least five decades. The family is selling as office, retail, and residential leasing in the neighborhood have all become more competitive, Commercial Observer wrote.

Albert Sultan and Joseph Kassin of KSR represented the seller. According to Sultan, the listing drew three or four competing buyers over roughly two months before the sellers accepted a cash offer from Zar. The deal closed within 30 days. Sultan traced the competition to AI and tech tenants that are propping up the leasing market and that want to be in Downtown live-work-play submarkets like SoHo and NoHo. Aicon Contemporary, an art gallery, rents space in the buildings.

One building rises seven stories; the other is a three-story, late-19th-century structure. The properties are commercial, with the larger building and its smaller neighbor carrying mixed-use attributes, according to Commercial Observer. Across the street at 375 Lafayette Street, Minskoff Equities and Edison Properties are building two 99-unit multifamily properties where a parking lot currently sits.

Zar closed within 30 days, and the seller accepted cash after fielding three or four competing bids. A family holding that spans at least five decades converted to cash in a month. That pace, with competing buyers at the close, suggests real demand at this end of NoHo.