The Lower East Side’s former “Red Square” building — now both literally and figuratively no longer crimson — is up for sale.
The Dermot Company and Rockwood Capital are eyeing a price tag of $115 million for their multifamily rental building at 250 East Houston Street, The Real Deal has learned.
The building, between Avenues A and B, is most recognizable as the former perch of the 18-foot statue of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, which stood over the Lower East Side streets for more than 20 years until it was removed in 2016.
The figure had been placed there by developers Michael Shaoul and Michael Rosen, who constructed the building in the early 1990s. It was a nod to the neighborhood’s leftist politics, Rosen once told the New York Times.
“I wanted to do something creative, fun, an homage to the history of the Lower East Side, which had been a hotbed of political thought,” he said.
But when the developers were preparing to sell the building, they realized a new owner may not be so fond of the statue and decided to move it to a nearby building.
Dermot and Rockwood paid about $105 million in 2016 for the 13-story, 130-unit building, and proceeded to reface its red brick facade white.
They invested another $20 million in capital since then, according to a listing with JLL, where a team led by Rob Hinckley and Jeff Julien is overseeing the sale process.
Representatives for Dermot and Rockwood did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A one-bedroom apartment at the building is currently listed on StreetEasy for $5,850 a month.
Dermot last year paid $370 million to buy the 57-story building at 20 Exchange Place from DTH Capital.
Rockwood, meanwhile, put its 2 Grand Central Tower office building up for sale earlier this summer, looking to get around $270 million.
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