Former Home of G&S Sporting Goods on Essex Street Sells for $6.9M

This image has been archived or removed.

G&S Sporting Goods concluded its 77-year run on Essex Street at the end of 2014. News of its demise first arrived a year ago, but the store limped on until November. Its departure was another sad loss of mom-and-pop culture in an area swiftly becoming another extension of luxury.

By the end of December, 43 Essex Street was already undergoing a gut renovation on the ground level. That frenzy of activity, since abated, was a signal of change. In fact, the five-story tenement sold right around that time for $6.9 million. One Paul Galasso (aka 43 Essex LLC) is listed as the buyer, according to public records filed earlier this month.

The sale was not entirely unexpected, yet happened pretty quickly. Second-generation proprietor Lenny Zerling – whose family owned the property for seven decades – had been planning to throw in the towel ever since suffering a stroke in the fall of 2013.

This image has been archived or removed.

Meanwhile, the former G&S space is still available on the market. The 2,200 square-foot space for over $16,000 per month ($89/sf/year).

G&S Sporting Goods was founded in 1937 by Lenny’s father, an Estonian immigrant boxer named Izzy Zerling. He was a registered lightweight, and boxed approximately thirty-five professional fights. The store opened at 43 Essex after his retirement. Thereafter, he spent most of his life dedicated to teaching the sport to underprivileged kids, all while the family business remained as such. He is also credited with being the first to train female fighters in 1938. The elder Zerling lived on the Lower East Side until his death in 2011 at the age of 96.