Maisels Moving out of the Germania Bank Building on the Bowery
This image has been archived or removed.
It’s actually happening. The day has come.
Photographer Jay Maisel is moving out of his historic mansion on the Bowery. The graffiti mecca known as the Germania Bank Building, where the family has lived for almost fifty years. A muthafuckin half-century.
Belongings are now leaving the premises, though, with moving trucks having become a somewhat regular appearance in the last couple weeks. And yesterday afternoon saw the arrival of a Moishe’s detachment outside 190 Bowery to unload more boxes and furnishings.
Real estate magnate Aby Rosen (RFR Realty) has been trying to flip the purported $50 million acquisition for months, even while no official documentation of the sale is on file with the city. Massey Knakal continues to rep as exclusive broker, circulating brochures of the 37,000 square-foot property with the following rendering of a graffiti-free building:
This image has been archived or removed.
Developers’ wet dream of 190 Bowery, Photo: Massey Knakal
Some sort of condo conversion is likely expected for whomever purchases the 1898 landmark (designated 2005).
According to property records, Maisel purchased the Germania Bank Building in 1966 for $102,000. As the urban lore goes, the artist and family refused to scrub the graffiti because the city allegedly rebuffed his attempts to do the same in the bad old days of the Bowery.
This image has been archived or removed.
Photo: Curbed
Recent Stories
East Broadway Subway Station Turns 85
The East Broadway subway station wasn’t always a shady dungeon attracting crime. Once upon a time, the transit stop inspired celebrations across the Lower East Side. It was exactly eighty-five years ago – January 1, 1936 – that the East Broadway subway station debuted to the public. The feat of subterranean engineering, then known as […]
Looking at the New Ludlow House Annex Atop Demolished Libation Site
Well, that was quick. With Libation excised from the Lower East Side, the hole is now filled. Taken over by Ludlow House. The building at 137 Ludlow Street was demolished last year, and replaced in a matter of months. In fact, it’s already operational. The architecture of this one-story newcomer mirrors design elements of its […]
Stringer Promises ‘Fair Share’ of PPP for City Businesses
City Comptroller (and mayoral candidate) Scott Stringer held a press conference yesterday at the Chinatown kiosk on Canal Street, announcing a plan to funnel federal Payroll Protection (PPP) dollars to New York city businesses. It certainly triggered an uncomfortable memory of last year’s PPP fiasco. The first round of PPP went into effect just a […]
‘Open Streets’ Town Hall Yields More Questions than Answers
Tuesday night’s Town Hall on Open Restaurants and Open Streets, hosted by Community Boards 3 and 6 – left residents with more questions than answers regarding the long-term impact these pandemic-era health and economic neighborhood solutions have on a post-COVID city. However, the online meetup did bring a wide scope of information in terms of […]
Unused Half of Bowery’s Sunshine Hotel Flophouse Available to Rent
The leasing banner has been strung from the facade of 241 Bowery for more than two years. Without much success. The second and third floors (combined 8,938 square-feet) – once part of the Sunshine Hotel flophouse – are again on the market. And at a hefty price: $6,495 for a “raw” space that requires renovations […]
