By Gus Saltonstall
An Upper West Side property that has served as a hotel, a Single Room Occupancy building, a college dorm, and a migrant shelter recently sold for tens of millions of dollars, as reported by Crain’s New York.
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy [AMDA] has sold its Stratford Arms building at 117 West 70th Street, between Broadway and Columbus, to Hawkins Way Capital for $80 million, according to a deed in the city register.
Hawkins Way Capital is a real estate company with over $3 billion of assets that specializes in student housing.
In terms of what the building will become, it appears that the West 70th Street address will remain student housing as AMDA leased the property back from Hawkins Way for 31 years on the same day that it sold the building, Crain’s reported.
AMDA had owned the Upper West Side building since 1996 and used it exclusively as student housing.
Beginning in the summer of 2023, Stratford Arms was used as one of two larger Upper West Side asylum shelters for migrants, which held more than 800 people at its height. The shelter closed in February of 2025.
At the time, City Councilmember Gale Brewer said that there would be no new migrant shelter at the address, and that she hoped Stratford Arms might be turned into residential housing.
“It’s too bad that New York City didn’t see this as an opportunity for affordable housing,” Brewer told West Side Rag on Tuesday morning.
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Selling their building AND paying rent on it! Can’t make this stuff up folks!
Another reason a 501(c)(3) organization like the AMDA might do a sale/leaseback, aside from generating immediate cash, is that over the years the AMDA has been receiving no benefit from the tax depreciation on the building. Because of the AMDA’s tax exempt status, it can sell the building, not pay any taxes on the gain, and allow the buyer to take the depreciation benefit on the building based on the purchase price. A win/win for both the buyer and the seller, but a loss for the Feds and NYS/NYC in terms of tax revenue.
This puts the building back on the propery tax rolls, right?
It’s called a sale/leaseback and it happens more often than you would think. It’s a way for a seller to generate immediate capital and continue use of the property. From the seller/tenant point of view, they receive 100% of the fair market value of the property (the sales prices) instead of 50%-75% they would receive if they obtained a mortgage loan and they get to continue operations in the same space.
The sale also removes the building from the seller’s balance sheet and replaces it with a lease liability which can improve a company’s financial position thus allowing them to possibly obtain financing for other parts of the business.
It’s disingenuous for CM Brewer to say this was a missed opportunity, and it creates a narrative that the parties and the City did something wrong. The seller had no intention of leaving and found a buyer willing to purchase the building and keep them on as a tenant. She should know better….
Great to have knowledgeable readers who can explain this process. Thanks Brett and Not the Real!
What’s your issue? Sale/leasebacks happen all the time.
As for Ms. Brewer’s comment: The seller clearly had no intention to vacate so this was NOT an opportunity for “affordable” housing. AMDA negotiated solely with potential buyers that would agree to lease the building back to it on favorable terms. It’s a common financing technique that’s quite similar to taking out a mortgage on a property except instead of paying periodic interest and principal, the “borrower” (i.e., lessee) makes rental payments. God, how I wish our political representatives weren’t so dumb.
Spot on! Sale leasebacks are very common and there was never an opportunity for the city to make this affordable housing (unless they massively overpaid I guess, but then it’s not very affordable is it….)
I wonder what became of the 800 migrants who lived here. Work permits? Visas? Deportations?
Was it worth it to house them in one of the most expensive ZIP codes in the entire country? Could that money have been better allocated to a more affordable place?
It was the governor of Texas that shipped them to the most expensive zip code in the US.
One of the most expensive ZIP codes in the entire country. Best place to have dogs running off leashes, barking/growling, pooping/peeing, tripping people over leashes while the ‘pet parents’ are spaced out texting and not looking where they’re going!
Let’s not forget the literary importance of the Stratford Arms. Holden Caulfield ‘s friend stayed at the Stratford Arms in CATCHER IN THE RYE
I miss picking this “rag” up in the upper west side!
This is essentially just a financing transaction with no change of use involved. I’m not sure it’s Rag-worthy.
The building desperately needs renovation.
Nice to know AMDA found a way to survive financially. It’s a longtime part of the city’s musical and dramatic life!
Ah, the Gale Brewer haters are at it again! Sorry, but Ms. Brewer has done a lot for the Upper West Side. I believe it is as great as it is because of her guard over the District. She knows what is good for it!! Glass unaffordable hi-rise apartments are not the answer.
In this instance (and my comment), it’s not Gale Brewer hating. She’s just wrong to say what she said. There is a difference between being a “hater” of any politician and simply calling them out when they are factually incorrect. Seems to me that people on this post aren’t bashing her, they are calling out a factual error in her comments.
Instead of calling people in this instance “haters” perhaps take a moment to hear what we are saying. Sometime’s it’s ok to call out mistakes by politicians, even the ones we like.
@GaleBrewer: AMDA’s student housing IS affordable housing … for students. I understand you want to kowtow to your constituents by banning homeless shelters, but students?