A Chelsea Arts Building Is for Sale, and the Artists Cry ‘Foul'

New York Times

31-01-2025

One tenant wore furry clogs with black ankle socks. Another recalled keeping bees on the roof and making 'High Line honey.' A third spoke of plans to invest thousands of dollars in air-conditioning.
At a tenants' meeting earlier in January, dozens of artists and gallery owners gathered to protest the sale of their workplace: 508-534 West 26th Street. The 400,000-square-foot complex next to the High Line has long been an anchor of the West Chelsea arts district. But with the September 2022 death of its owner, the philanthropist and art collector Gloria Naftali, the building is in the hands of her estate, whose representatives say they do not consider it profitable enough to keep.
It is currently on the market for $170 million.
Dominick Porto, 91, the estate's co-executor, and Derek Wolman, 68, its lawyer, told tenants at the meeting that revenue from the sale of the building would be used to support the activities of the Raymond and Gloria Naftali Foundation, which was established in 2008 and of which both men are trustees. The organization supports not only the arts, but also initiatives that fight antisemitism. (Mr. Naftali, Ms. Naftali's husband, who died in 2003, was a Holocaust survivor.) Tax documents from 2023 show total foundation assets of $4.57 million.
For many tenants, the decision to sell, which was first reported in the Commercial Observer in December, means not just a painful disruption in their lives but a nail in the coffin of their neighborhood.
'Artists and the art galleries bring a lot of money to the neighborhood and enlist services which will also sadly disappear,' said Judi Harvest, the beekeeping artist, who has rented in the building since 2001 and gives her age as 'over 65.' Ms. Harvest said she came to West 26th Street after being displaced from studios in TriBeCa, Chinatown and SoHo that became luxury residences.
'The West Chelsea Building is more than a piece of real estate — it is a vital part of our city's identity and a testament to the enduring power of art to bring people together,' stated a Jan. 17 letter to the Naftali Foundation signed by five local elected officials: Council Member Erik Bottcher, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Assemblyman Tony Simone, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Representative Jerrold Nadler.
The building consists of two connected structures built in 1910 and 1927 that were used for printing and binding books. In the mid-1970s, Mr. Naftali (no connection to the real estate development family of that name) bought the property for use as a warehouse for his garment business. At that time, New York's arts scene was concentrated in SoHo, but Ms. Naftali, a French-born former actress and model, caught a whiff of where it was heading.
In 1993, the couple turned the building into studios and exhibition spaces for artists and allied professionals, some very glossy. Among the roughly 200 tenants today are the Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, who built a teahouse on the 12th floor with Ms. Naftali's blessing, and the American painter Ross Bleckner. Galleries include Berry Campbell, Galerie Lelong and Greene Naftali, the last co-founded by Ms. Naftali and Carol Greene in 1995.
After Mr. Naftali's death, his wife continued fussing lovingly over her creative brood, dancing at parties into her nineties and making pledges that the building would remain an artists' community forever, tenants said.
It was a rude shock to many when they were informed that Ms. Naftali's will, executed in 2009, expressed her desire but not a legal directive to keep the building as it is.
At the tenants' meeting, Mr. Porto and Mr. Wolman emphasized that they had a fiduciary duty to support the foundation's diverse interests. They also said the building lacked the liquidity to allow them to fulfill minimum annual distribution requirements of 5 percent of the foundation's assets, plus an additional 2 percent in excise taxes.
Though at the time of her death, Ms. Naftali also owned a West Village townhouse, several New York City investment units, the Manhattan homes of her son and daughter, two houses in Southampton, N.Y., properties in West Palm Beach, Fla., and South Londonderry, Vt., as well as a substantial art collection, Mr. Wolman said at the meeting that the West 26th Street building represented most of her wealth.
He and Mr. Porto declined to disclose to the Times the amount of rent the West 26th Street building collects , and the building's manager, David Smyth, did not respond to several requests for information. The building is profitable, Mr. Wolman said, 'just not profitable enough.'
Emilio Madrid, 28, an entertainment photographer who was the tenant contemplating a large investment in air-conditioning, said he pays $8,000 a month for his roughly 1,650-square-foot studio, which he has occupied for less than four years.
Ms. Harvest rents 550 to 600 square feet for $3,000 a month. The tenants pay for their own electricity, and hers averages $100 to $150 per month, she said.
A licensed real estate broker, Ms. Harvest added that the average asking price of commercial loft space in West Chelsea is $40 to $45 per square foot, slightly less than what she pays. 'It is a nice building, but not a bargain,' she said of the complex.
According to Mr. Madrid, a group of tenants is seeking a buyer who shares Ms. Naftali's dedication to the arts. They are also considering the possibility of tenants buying the building themselves, 'though that is a heavy lift,' which would mean higher rents, he said.
Some tenants have also suggested classifying the building as a charitable asset of the Raymond and Gloria Naftali Foundation and removing it from the distribution requirements.
Asked about this proposal, Mr. Porto said, 'If someone has an idea and they think it can work, and they show us feasibility, by God, I'll go to bat for it.'