The Streit’s Matzo Factory was Acquired for $30.5M
This image has been archived or removed.
The deal is done.
Streit’s Matzo officially unloaded its historic 90-year-old factory on Rivington Street for a hefty $30.5 million, according to the deed filed with the city today. The buyer is none other than Cogswell Realty, a midtown-based real estate firm that specializes in “flying under the radar” with its property acquisitions. Ergo, expect some massive development here.
We first broke news that Streit’s was cashing out back in January when the two parties officially entered into contract. Contract was officially signed on April 30. The sale had less to do with the pressures of gentrification, we’re told, and more to do with competing in the current economic climate. Running the tenement factory is no longer economically feasible in the current location (i.e. archane equipment not easily serviceable, the changing business).
So, Streit’s will likely cross the river into New Jersey later this summer where the company maintains a presence.
The tenements – together comprising some 50,000 square-feet – had been shopped around for the better part of the last decade. Asking price was usually in the neighborhood of $25 million.
This image has been archived or removed.
The packaging machine
Since 1925, the Streit’s Matzo factory has stood at 148-154 Rivington Street on New York’s Lower East Side. Here, in four, low-slung brick tenement buildings, five generations of the Streit family, and as many generations of factory workers, devoted their lives to the art of mixing flour and water, and sending these two simple ingredients through a seventy-three foot long oven to create sheets of matzo, the unleavened bread central to the Jewish holiday of Passover.
The last family-owned matzo factory in the United States, Streit’s has endured for nearly a century, continuing to produce 40 percent of the nation’s matzo using machinery as old as the business itself, and employing 60 workers, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, native New Yorkers and immigrants from around the world, all of whom found a livelihood and a second family behind these walls.
[h/t Real Deal]
Recent Stories
Black Seed Bagels will Reopen on Elizabeth Street Next Month
One month after an early-morning fire ripped through the original Black Seed Bagels in Little Italy, the business is on the mend. And might reopen sooner than initially expected. As in next month. On March 7, a fire sparked on-premise and knocked out the whole bagel operation. Firefighters were successful in extinguishing the blaze and […]
Tsaôcaa & Bào Bubble Tea Spot Opens on Ludlow Street
Three months after the Thai ice creamery, Juicy Spot, faded from Ludlow Street, another snack shop is now operational. This time, the M.O. is all things bubble tea. Tsaôcaa & Bào recently opened at 109 Ludlow, just north of Delancey Street. It describes itself as a bubble tea business that “strives for ultimate freshness and […]
Time is Short for the Longtime Subway Florist of 14th Street
With the rebranded L train “slowdown” one day away, time is slim for the longtime subway florist on 14th Street. Our roving photographer – Lower East Side native Robert Carmona – caught up with the subterranean peddler last month to learn the latest. Periklis Tsoumas, who has been at the 1st Avenue and 14th Street […]
Report: Tenement Museum Workers Unionize
The front-facing staff of the Tenement Museum, after many failed attempts throughout the years, have finally agreed to unionize. A vote was held last week in which all education, retail, and visitor services employees mobilized to join Local 2110 UAW (United Auto Workers). The measure passed by a 96% margin. The vote was spurred by […]
Sunshine Cinema Signage Carted Away
Sunshine, sunset, swiftly goes the demolition. Indeed, no sooner did the sidewalk bridge appear at 141 East Houston Street than workers deposed the Sunshine Cinema neon lettering. We’re told that a van carted the signage away yesterday. Co-owner-developer East End Capital did not return our request about the fate of the letters. Meanwhile, the demolition […]
