Luxury developer Harry Macklowe has sold a historic Midtown literary center building for half of what he bought it for seven years ago, records show.
The real estate mogul, who founded his eponymous firm Macklowe Properties in the 1960s, offloaded 17 E. 47th St. for $7.9 million — a whopping $8.6 million less than the $16.5 million he paid for it in 2018 — according to a deed that appeared in the city register Tuesday. Andrew Albstein, a partner at Midtown-based law firm Goldberg Weprin Finkel Goldstein, which represented the seller, declined to comment.
The 8-story property, between Madison and Fifth Avenues, was home to the Center for Fiction until 2017, when it closed in preparation for its 2019 move to Brooklyn. The literary nonprofit, founded in 1820 and formerly known as the Mercantile Library, is now located at 15 Lafayette Ave. in Fort Greene.
The now-vacant building still bears the center’s original name on its facade.
In 2014 the building traded for the first time since it was originally constructed in 1932, selling for $18 million, according to a deed from that time. The Clinton Hall Association of the City of New York sold it on behalf of the Center for Fiction to the limited liability company Sun’s Acres, records show. Sun’s Acres then sold it to Macklowe four years later.
It’s unclear why Macklowe sold it at a loss. His company did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The buyer, meanwhile, is a limited liability company named after the address, according to the deed, which was first reported by PincusCo. The entity is linked to a rental building in Midwood, Brooklyn, that is owned by Nahman Lichtenstein, city records show. Attempts to reach Lichtenstein were unsuccessful by press time.
JLL’s Jonathan Hageman and Clint Olsen are listed as brokers on the transaction; they did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
