The fallout from Walter & Samuels’ decision to pack its buildings with WeWork may have spread to Greenwich Village.
David Berley’s longtime real estate firm, which has been unloading properties left and right since being burned by the co-working company’s collapse, has sold five buildings on Sixth Avenue, Nos. 387, 389, 391, 395 and 401, for $24.3 million, according to brokers who handled the deal.
The transaction closed Monday, said Albert Sultan of Kassin Sabbagh Realty, which represented Walter & Samuels, and has not yet hit the city register. But the buyer of the sites, a line of prewar and postwar mixed-use and retail structures between Waverly Place and Greenwich Avenue, was apparently Israeli investor Realya Investment Funds in its first New York acquisition.
Tucked outside the neighborhood’s sweeping landmark district, the contiguous properties represent a rare development opportunity in the neighborhood, one of the city’s most desirable places to shop, gallivant and live.
The parcels currently contain about 25,500 square feet of structures, though zoning would allow a 40,000-square-foot development, according to Sultan, who added that the sites might still be tricky to redevelop as they sit atop the confluence of the A,C and E, and B,D,F and M, subway lines.
It’s unclear from the register what Berley paid for the sites, some of which he’s owned since as far back as 1976, though his long-term control suggests he enjoyed considerable upside.
The block’s best-known business is probably the Waverly Diner, a neon-sign-lighted eatery anchoring the corner at Waverly that has been doling out mid-priced meals since 1979. The diner, at 385 Sixth, was not included in the transaction.
The sold buildings are instead located in the middle of the block and have been home in recent years to a Starbucks outpost, Citibank branch and an Orangetheory Fitness space, as well as a changing lineup of restaurants, though several storefronts are currently vacant.
It’s unclear what Realya, which previously invested in Detroit, New Haven and North Carolina, is planning for the properties. An email sent to their office in Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut, Israel, was not returned by press time. And Berley was not immediately available for comment.
But for his part, Sultan said in a statement that Realya “recognized the unique opportunity to acquire nearly a full block of retail frontage in a prime submarket” and added that “with retail experiencing a renaissance, we expect to see a lot more transactions of this nature in the coming months.”
WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, and as part of a reorganization plan approved by a federal judge, the one-time tech behemoth was permitted to rip up leases across the city.
The decision seems to have hit Walter & Samuels particularly hard. Two of its buildings that once had a major WeWork presence, 315 W. 36th St. and 214 W. 29th St., are now fighting to avoid foreclosures. WeWork also occupied two of the 10 floors at Berley’s 225 W. 39th St., a Garment District address that he let go for $22 million in March 2024 after decades of ownership.
Around the same time Berley also offloaded an East Village parking garage for $14 million and in December parted with 15 W. 36th St., home to a historic camera shop, for $13 million. Both of the properties were also sites he had owned for years.
