Winning Flatiron Bidder Fails to Make Initial Payment

Only days after “industry outsider” Jason Garlick ostensibly bought the historic Flatiron Building at 175 Fifth Avenue in NYC for US$190 million in an auction on March 22, he failed to make a necessary US$19 million payment by the close of business on March 24, the New York Post is among outlets to report. Failure to pay the required 10% deposit casts doubt on his ownership of the 121-year-old landmark. A court-appointed “referee” may be able to secure Garlick an extension on the payment deadline, but if that fails, the second-highest bidder — former partial owner Jeffrey Gural of GFP Real Estate — would have first dibs. Gural told the source he’s not interested in paying the US$189.5 million he bid, so it appears “it’s back to the auction block for the Flatiron.” The March 22 auction was the result of disagreement among Sorente Group, GFP and ABS Real Estate Partners, which together owned 75% of the building, and Nathan Silverstein, who owned the other 25%, about how to move the property forward.