Notorious Greenpoint Landlord Moves to Sell 67 West Street

The Guttman family plans to sell 67 West Street, one of the area’s most prominent hubs for small businesses, according to The Promote.

The details have not been finalized just yet, but the outlet says either The Jay Group or TF Cornerstone (both of whom recently purchased West Street property from the Guttmans’ Pearl Realty Management group) will purchase the building.

The Promote also reports that a few tenants were told that their lease would not be renewed.

Unfortunately, the writing has long been on the wall for an imminent sale of the building.

The Jay Group purchased 97 West Street last year, with plans to build a 590-unit residential building (which led Pearl Realty to terminate multiple commercial leases en masse). That building joins what will be a 268-unit building from TF Cornerstone at 57 West Street, likely condos. With these sales, 67 West became the block’s holdout, making it increasingly unlikely to remain intact as is.

The plans have not yet been finalized in the city property records, and it’s unclear what’s next for the building. A small but significant chunk of 67 West Street is zoned R8, which would allow higher-density construction that a real estate developer would find attractive.

The building’s sale and potential demolition would mark a major and devastating shift in the neighborhood’s landscape, as dozens of artists, manufacturers, and retail purveyors call 67 West Street home. The five-story building also includes a film studio, a co-working space, and a multipurpose event space (which you’re familiar with if you’ve ever been to one of our holiday markets).

Greenpointers keeps an office in 67 West Street. A broker left us a business card underneath our door this past Tuesday, tipping us off that a sale was in the works. We called the broker, whose name we’re redacting at their request, who confirmed the sale but would not provide any additional details.

We then reached out directly to Pearl Realty, who dismissed the speculation outright, telling us in an email that they “have no plans to sell the building.”

On my way into the building yesterday, I witnessed surveyors from Level A Underground mark the surrounding area with spray paint and set up a survey camera tripod. When I asked, the surveyor told me that he was checking for underground utilities (on Level A’s website, they list that as a service they provide for design or construction projects).

Last year, a West Street tenant told Greenpointers that he knew his building was being sold once he saw work crews measuring everything.

The news further entrenches the Guttman family’s less-than-stellar reputation in the neighborhood. In a Greenpointers story from 2020, 67 West Street tenants expressed concerns with building cleanliness, dubious extra fees, and Pearl Realty’s general sense of inflexibility during the worst of the pandemic.

“When they want to collect money, you’ll hear from them a lot, but when there’s something wrong, they’re nowhere to be found,” said one tenant.

There have been at least five documented cases of arson at Guttman properties, including at the Greenpoint Terminal Market in 2006, which at the time was the city’s biggest fire since September 11. (The Guttmans have never been charged with any crime related to the fires).

Pearl Realty did not return our call.