Big, Crumbling Building on Malcolm X Asking $3.5 Million in Contract, New Build Likely

When we passed by the big, crumbling 19th century apartment building on the corner of Macon and Malcolm X Boulevard in Bed Stuy the other day, we noticed the for-sale sign had been taken down. Had it sold? Or been taken off the market?

A little digging revealed a contract of sale was recorded in July between the longtime owner, a church, and an LLC. The building had been asking $3,500,000, an extraordinary sum for the area, especially considering the building appears to be only a shell.

The empty lot next door at 267 Malcolm X was also offered for sale, for $1,500,000, and the same LLC is also in contract to buy that property.

The apartment building has been empty and boarded up for years, with some windows open or missing. A spray-painted box with an x through it on the Macon side indicates to first responders the building is dangerous to enter. Above, the building as it appeared in January. The photo below shows the building in 2012.

The recorded contracts indicate title has passed, but the amount to be paid and the terms of the contracts are TBD. We won’t know the amount until the sale closes. The seller is a church, so it’s possible the parties are waiting for attorney general approval of the transaction or other issues that could affect cost and development, such as title.

The building is right on the border of the Stuy Heights landmark district, but is not actually in the district. Given the condition of the building, we’d guess it will most likely be torn down if the sale goes through, even though it’s currently over FAR.

That might also explain the high asking price on both properties. The two properties together have a buildable square footage of 13,104 square feet, according to PropertyShark.

As we noted in yesterday’s story, in recent months quite a few of these large 19th century corner buildings in the Stuy Heights area have been spruced up lately.

Photo below by Christopher Bride for PropertyShark