A New York City based-LLC has sent Uptown Kingston’s real estate boom to new heights by placing a $4.2 million bid on a Crown Street building owned by the Kingston City School District.
The Kingston City School District has been seeking to sell its current administrative headquarters at 61 Crown Street since 2013. At the time district officials listed a sale price of $750,000. In 2014, the district turned down two bids of approximately $660,000 bid on the property. Last year, Mexican hotel chain Grupo Habita unveiled a proposal to buy the building for $1 million for conversion into a 34-room boutique hotel. Instead, on the recommendation of Kingston realtor Joe Deegan, the district placed the parcel back on the market with an asking price of $2.25 million.
Friday’s bid by 61 Crown Street LLC came in at nearly double the asking price for a total of $4,253,000. The offer would also bind the district to a one-year rent-free lease with the new owners and give district officials the option to remain in the building for an additional year if they chose. The KCSD is in the process of planning a move of its administrative offices, currently housed in Cioni, to the shuttered Meagher Elementary School.
The next highest bidder, Hoboken-based Iron State Holdings LLC, offered $1.8 million with a free lease-back period of up to two years or $2 million with a one-year lease-back period with a rent of $10 per square foot. A representative for 61 Crown Street LLC said that the offer was made on behalf of BRE Properties. State records indicate that BRE Properties is a “Foreign Limited Liability Corporation” based at 544 Hudson St. in New York City. LLC’s associated with the company are listed as owners of a number of Manhattan residential and commercial properties. Deegan said that he did not know what the high-bidders plans were for the property.
The school board will meet on Wednesday, July 19 to consider the bids.
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