A Manhattan luxury rental developer appears to have a new project in mind for the Upper East Side.
The Torkian Group, which is behind residential towers including The Cameo in Hell’s Kitchen and Solari in Midtown South, recently filed demolition permits with the city’s Department of Buildings for 1382, 1384 and 1386 Second Ave. The developer purchased the development site, located at the corner of Second Avenue and East 71st Street, for $25 million in September from Copperwood Real Estate and Y Leaf LLC, property records show.
The buildings stand 4 stories and 44 feet tall with six residential units each, all of which are unoccupied, according to the permit filings. The property at 1382 Second Ave. spans about 7,400 square feet, while 1384 and 1386 Second Ave. each span 6,000 square feet, the filings say.
The Torkian Group is a private, family-run real estate firm based in Midtown. In addition to The Cameo and Solari, its projects include luxury rental buildings The York in Midtown, Greenwich House Lofts in the Financial District and The Delecor on the Upper East Side, close to its new Second Avenue project.
A representative for the Torkian Group did not respond to a request for comment about the company’s plans for the development site by press time.
The property allows for a developer to construct a mixed-use or residential building spanning about 60,000 square feet with the potential to add air rights, according to a September 2023 announcement from Ariel Property Advisors, which represented the seller in the deal. Its initial asking price was $29 million.
The Torkian Group purchased about $3.8 million worth of development rights from Copperwood spanning from 1382-1388 Second Ave. at the same time it bought 1382-1386 Second Ave. outright, property records show, indicating that the company plans to take advantage of adding air rights to its project.
Copperwood and Y Leaf sparred in court over what to do with the development site prior to the Torkian Group’s purchase of it, as commercial real estate news site PincusCo reported at the time of the sale. Copperwood sued Y Leaf in March seeking to dissolve their partnership in the buildings, arguing that they were “hopelessly deadlocked” over what to do with them, the suit says. Each had a 50% interest in the site, and although they had decided in 2018 that selling would be the best move, Y Leaf then insisted in 2022 that the partnership re-rent the buildings’ units instead, the suit says.
The partners ultimately agreed to sell the property, and the suit was discontinued in September, court records show.
