Icon Realty Snaps up Hester Street Building for $6.4M
Real estate transactions don’t cease just because of a deadly virus and pandemic.
Real estate magnate, Icon Realty Management, just scooped up another Lower East Side property.
The twenty-unit multifamily walk-up at 61 Hester Street, formerly home to the Sweet Life candy shop on the ground floor, traded hands last week for $6.4 million. Margray Realty, which acquired the building in 1994, is listed as seller of record.
Icon Realty Management is notorious around the East Village and Lower East Side for its alleged “construction as harassment” techniques. Tenants often accuse the firm of aggressive attempts to clear out the rent stabilized properties in favor of luxury rents. It’s had an effect on commercial, too. Neighborhood stalwarts such as the Stage Restaurant and Allied Hardware on Second Avenue were some of Icon’s more high-profile victims.
Back in 2017, ICON was forced to settle with the city over its tactics: a $300,000 fine to the State of New York, and an additional $200,000 to HPD and DOB.
Recent Stories
More Details on Vicious Chinatown Beatdown at Canal and Allen Streets
More info came to light this week on the savage beating of an ex-convict at Allen and Canal Streets. According to published reports, the victim, Walter Ward, exited a Chinatown bus at 11:30am Friday morning when a mob of a dozen people mauled him. The group was apparently summoned – via text message – by […]
Rockwood Music Hall Expands to Boston
Rockwood Music Hall sure likes to hit milestones in the month of January. After celebrating fifteen years on the Lower East Side a year ago, the music venue is announcing another expansion. This time, to Boston. The club is seeking a liquor license to operate at 88 Van Ness Street, in the Fenway section of […]
No Idols NYC Opens Tattoo Parlor in Jimmy Webb’s Old Orchard Street Store
Threads to ink is the storyline at 75 Orchard Street. The former home of I Need More – the punk rock boutique founded by the late Jimmy Webb – is now a tattoo parlor. No Idols NYC just opened an annex at 75 Orchard after spending four years on the Bowery, the storied birthplace of […]
Body Cam Shows Cops Shoot Transgender Woman After Attacking Husband with Knife at LES Extell Tower
Body camera footage released by the NYPD last Thursday shows the moment officers shot to death a transgender woman armed with a knife during a bloody domestic feud at Extell’s affordable tower. The incident actually transpired two years ago, but the visuals only now came to light. In February 2019, the 7th Precinct responded to […]
‘Crab Du Jour’ Chain Claws onto the Lower East Side
Crab Du Jour is headed to the southern perimeter of Essex Crossing. The fast food joint, which slings Cajun-style seafood, planted a flag at 384 Grand Street last week. Literally. Signage announces the newcomer. It takes the spot left vacant by La Flaca last summer after its ten-year tenure on the block. Crab Du Jour […]
