A Look Inside the Forbidden 533 Greenwich Street

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The seven-story loft building at 533 Greenwich Street in Hudson Square is one of the more confusing/screwed up situations in all of Manhattan real estate. This year-old Post story has all the background (not much has changed since), but pretty much what's going on is that the 12 artist tenants living in this building have been on rent strike for 18 years. Various landlords have tried to get them out, but through the work of an excellent lawyer, the Loft Law "squatters" have remained. That Post story mentioned that the latest fed-up owner was trying to unload the building for $8 million, but a current listing on the Massey Knakal site asks $6.25 million for the building.

But that's not all! Apparently, the building will be auctioned off on May 13, with bids starting at $1 million. It's the auction notification that provides the building photos (the basement is seen above), which must have been taken while the very private tenants were all sleeping or lost in a painting trance or something. A source tells us that the tenants would accept a buyout of $500,000 each to leave the building, so factor in another $6 million on top of your bid if you want to make money on this mess.
· Real Estate Auctions [Williams & Williams]

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