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.
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