Real Estate Weekly, by Roland Li on 3/15/2011

Will convert to condos, retail 

Gaia Real Estate has purchased a Harlem mixed-use building for $19.5 million, according to city records.

Gaia will convert the building, at 1967 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, into 35 condo units and lease out its five vacant retail spaces, according to Amir Yerushalmi, managing director of Gaia.

The company also recently acquired a property at 5 West 91st Street in September 2010 from Laurence Gluck and Stellar Management for $16 million, and it is in talks to buy another building in Harlem.

Gaia's brokerage group, Park River Properties, will handle the condo sales. The firm is in talks to hire a retail brokerage, but is also open to selling the commercial condos.

“We are open to either sell or rent it,” said Yerushalmi.

The residential portion of the building is around 36,000 s/f and the retail space is around 6,500 s/f. Gaia’s purchase was financed by a loan from an institutional investor.

The company believes in the strength of the local Harlem residential market.

“I went to Columbia, and I know this area very well,” said Yerushalmi. He added that the number of young families was also encouraging.

The seller was listed in city records as 1961 7th Avenue, Inc., with an address that matched that of Sela Development Corporation of Forest Avenue, Long Island. Officials at Sela weren’t immediately available for comment.