Brooklyn-based Terra Developers has made a $28 million acquisition for the residential development of 500 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The 35,300-square-foot mixed-use building was sold to Terra by long-time owner CKMR Corporation, formerly Sloan's Supermarkets, according to property records filed on Friday.
The property spans five storeys on the north-west corner of West 84th Street and Columbus Avenue, just one block west of Central Park. The ground-floor retail space is occupied by a Gristedes supermarket, with twelve residential units above, which have been vacant for 30 years, as Bob Knakal of BKREA told Commercial Observer.
Knakal, founder of BKREA and exclusive broker for the property, indicated that the residential space at 500 Columbus Avenue is well-positioned for conversion into condominiums. An additional vertical extension on the 10,217-square-foot corner plot is also conceivable, according to the BKREA exposé.
Yevgeniy Lvovskiy, CEO of ZHL Group, confirmed the purchase on behalf of Terra, but did not provide details of Terra's plans for the site. The transaction was financed by a $25 million loan arranged by Max Ralby, Holden Witkoff, Niv Shahmoon and Dante DiStefano of Newmark in collaboration with Derby Copeland.
ZHL previously represented Terra and other investment partners in 2024 in the acquisition of a development site in Long Island City, Queens, for $27.6 million. The building at 500 Columbus Avenue was last sold in the 1970s to a company owned by Sloan's Supermarkets, which was founded by the Sloan and Meyer families. CKMR now manages legacy assets in New York City. Lucia Nuzzi-Meyer acted as CKMR's authorised representative in the recent transaction. Representatives of CKMR were initially unavailable for comment.
Other retail tenants at 500 Columbus Avenue include the Park West Laundromat and a shoe repair shop.
