Just as quickly as the Flatiron Building appeared to have a buyer, the ownership status of the iconic, but beleaguered building was muddied once again this week.
The big news up until Friday was that Jacob Garlick, an investor completely unknown in the city’s real estate community, purchased the Flatiron Building at auction by bidding an eye-watering $190 million.
Garlick said following his winning bid that it was a lifelong dream for him to own the Flatiron, which is one of New York’s most famous buildings, but has sat mostly empty since 2019. The prospect of the expensive renovation — estimated to be in the neighborhood of $80 million — led to a fracture in the previous ownership group, where four of the five owners filed to sell their 75 percent stake in the building.
One of the Flatiron’s previous owners, Jeffrey Gural, went into the auction as a favorite to secure the 120-year old building. Instead, the bidding ended with Gural looking confused and upset, while Garlick knelt on the stairs of the courthouse.
But Garlick didn’t even clear the first hurdle of the terms of the sale, which was to put down $19 million, or 10 percent, of his $190 million bid by the close of business Friday.
A court could grant Garlick an extension to come up with the deposit or, if that doesn’t happen, the next-highest bidder, Gural (at $189.5 million), would have the option to buy the building. Gural, however, said he wasn’t going to exercise the option at that price, meaning the Flatiron Building could come full circle and go back on the auction block.
Stay tuned.