The Upper East Side building that has long been home to the original Orwashers Bakery has sold to new owners, records show.
Brooklyn-based real estate firm Peak Capital scooped up the 6-story building at 308 E. 78th St., which houses the famed bakery and a restaurant on the ground floor and a few dozen apartments above, for $14.6 million, according to a deed that appeared in the city register Friday.
Founded in 1916 by the Orwasher family after emigrating from Hungary, the eponymous baked goods shop has become a New York institution known for its homemade breads, including rye and pumpernickel, as well as its Eastern European desserts such as rugelach, babka and black and white cookies. The business was passed down from generation to generation within the Orwasher family until 2008, when it was acquired by local small business owner Keith Cohen.
In addition to the original Upper East Side storefront between First and Second avenues, the bakery has expanded to include a wholesale business and two other brick-and-mortar locations, one on the Upper West Side that opened in 2016 and another in Roslyn Heights, Long Island.
The Orwasher family continued to own the building for nearly two decades after parting ways with the business. Abram Orwasher — grandson of the family patriarch, Abraham Orwasher — sold the property to Peak Capital, signing the deed himself, records show.
Peak Capital’s Alex Rabin and Juan David Gomez, both principals and managing partners at the Williamsburg-based firm, received a $9.3 million mortgage from a limited liability company called FCR DC JV Holdings as part of the transaction, documents show.
It is unclear what Peak’s plans are for the building’s 35 rental apartments or its 3,250-square-foot commercial space occupied by Orwashers and the restaurant Heidi’s House. Rabin said the bakery maintains a long term lease in the building but declined to comment further.
Orwashers did not return a request for comment by press time.
