Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Landmarked Bowery Mansion To Become... Condos?
By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 17, 2014
Modified Sep 17, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 17, 2014
Modified Sep 17, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Last month word got out that 190 Bowery, that massive building on the corner of Bowery and Spring, was on the market. The owner, Jay Maisel, purchased the building for $102,000 in the 1960s, and has pretty much kept all 72 rooms for himself and family ever since (though at one point Roy Lichtenstein rented out a studio space there). The exterior has become a tribute to old New York—up top to the late 1800s, when it was built, and at street level a testament to a dirtier old town. Tagged with graffiti, and with an abandoned look, it's one of the few spots on Modern Day Bowery that will take you back to the decades before, when nearby 315 Bowery was still CBGB, and not an upscale clothing boutique.
Today, however, the NY Times reports that the street's landscape is in for another big change: the building is about to be sold. And it will become condos.
RFR Holdings' Aby Rosen told the paper that developers have been eyeing the six-story Renaissance Revival structure for years, and, “The building is in terrible shape. There’s no heat, Jay lives in just a small area of the building, another winter is coming, and it was time." It took him six months to talk Maisel in to selling—"When you own a property for that long, and you are not a real estate professional, it takes a lot of convincing," Rosen said.
The deal isn't done just yet, and Rosen hasn't discussed a purchase price (it's said to be worth around $50 million), but he did note that "the building could be converted for retailing at the base with condominiums above, or possibly offices or even an art gallery." Or maybe even a bank? That's what the 6-story limestone building started off as in the 1890s. [via Bowery Boogie]
Tagged
190 bowery
jay maisel
real estate
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 16, 2026
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
By
Hannah Frishberg
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
By
Sonia Rao
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .