Bernstein sells 236 Fifth Ave.

Bernstein Real Estate announced that it has brokered the sale of an 11-story limestone office building at 236 Fifth Avenue, for a price of $3.65 million, to an investor/owner group, LTC Associates. The sale was handled by Paula Chait and Judith Sager of Bernstein Real Estate.

236 Fifth Avenue is a building of approximately 70,000 square feet located between 27th and 28th Streets. It was originally developed as a factory building for Michael Dejong of San Francisco. The architects were Buchanan and Fox, located at 11 East 59th Street. In 1917 it was used for office and light manufacturing by the owner, Costella Corporation. In 1936 it was owned by New Diamond Point Pen Company and in the 40's and 50's it was owned by Horn & Hardart who had offices in the upper floors and installed an automat on the ground floor.

Some tiles still remain in the building from the construction by Horn & Hardart. There was a balcony which is now the mezzanine of the current store. The balcony overlooked the main level where the automat had its food service and was used for dining. The Horn & Hardart Company installed a dumbwaiter in 1948. In the 70's it was purchased for its own use by Whaledent, a manufacturer of dental equipment and in the early 90's it was transferred to their Swiss parent company, Coldent (Coldent/Whaledent) and in their expansion they required larger premises and a more horizontal layout which they obtained in the north New Jersey suburbs.

The building's new owners, LTC Associates, will be using part of the space for their own needs and renting some floors to outside tenants. LTC is a partnership of local business people and importers located in the area.