Auction Yields Owner for NYC’s Iconic Flatiron Building

After the drama of March, which saw unknown real estate player Jacob Garlick win NYC’s iconic Flatiron Building at auction with a bid of US$190 million, then lose it for failing to make the required deposit, the building now has an owner: Jeffrey Gural and his partners, The Real Deal reported in May, who bid US$161 million. The court-ordered followup auction happened on May 23, with Gural paying the US$100,000 deposit when the auction concluded, as required by a court-appointed referee. The historic office building at 175 Fifth Avenue originally went up for auction to resolve a lawsuit between majority owners GFP Real Estate (Gural’s company), Sorgente Group, Newmark and ABS Partners and minority owner Nathan Silverstein. Gural and the other majority owners previously had the bid next-highest to Garlick’s: US$189.5 million. They had the right to win the building with that bid after Garlick flaked, but waited it out. “I still think we overpaid, but we overpaid by a lot less,” said Gural, whose group plans to embark on an approximate US$100 million renovation of the property.