WHEN the beloved Moondance diner was famously trucked off from western SoHo to the wilds of Wyoming last summer, it was widely reported that the site at Sixth Avenue and Grand Street would be used for a luxury apartment building.
No longer.
Gary Barnett’s Extell Development Corp., which owned the Moondance site and two adjacent pieces of land, has quietly sold them to Brack Capital, which plans to put up a hotel, sources report.
The purchase price, which has yet to appear in city records, was $33.37 million. Itzhaki Properties’ Ivan Hakimian, who brokered the deal, could not be reached yesterday.
Sources say the developers have tentatively chosen the name 27 Grand Street for the project, which will rise on an 11,300 square-foot parcel bordered by Sixth Avenue, Grand Street and Thompson Street. The site can support 55,000 square feet of floor space as of right.
Earlier this year, Brack Capital, led by CEO Moshe Azugui, bought a parking garage on West 35th St., where it plans to build a 300-room hotel. Brack’s other projects in Manhattan include the landmark 90 West St. apartment building and the Olcott at 27 W. 72d St.
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Solved: The riddle of 2075 Broadway, aka the hot southwest corner of Broadway at 72nd Street.
After months of inactivity that mystified the neighborhood, work is about to start on the new rental apartment and retail project with a curved façade overlooking the busy corner.
Lynette Tulkoff, development director for the 19-floor, $200 million project, said excavation should start “just after Thanksgiving or even this week,” with full occupancy by the end of 2009.
The long-awaited project was launched by Philips International, headed by investor Philip Pilevsky, and Rhodes NY, a privately held family company. In ad dition to the land, which they’ve owned for 25 years, they will own 2075 Broad way’s five retail floors with 48,000 square feet.
Philips and Rhodes are also joint-venture partners in the apartment floors with the Gotham Organization, which will build the tower.
The site is across the street from the handsomely restored 72d Street IRT station at one of the best residential locations in Manhattan. But it’s been an empty crater ever since demolition was completed on several small old buildings last spring.
That fueled buzz on Curbed.com and other Web sites that work was slowed because of damage to the wall of the adjacent building at 214 W. 72d St.
Not true, says Tulkoff – it was merely a matter of “teeing up” the scheme’s various elements, which included air rights purchases and negotiations with Gotham, which quietly joined the project last year.
Some minor damage to the next-door building resulted from “a wall that shifted slightly,” Tulkoff said, who then added, “We’ve had protracted discussions with them to get it resolved,” Tulkoff said.
The owner of 214 W. 72d St., Peggy Ma, could not be reached yesterday.
Tulkoff said work might have started sooner, but extension of the city’s 421A tax abatement program until next summer gave the partners more time.
The tower will boast 196 rental apartments. The retail space, with 22-foot-high glass storefronts, will be marketed by Robert K. Futterman, who cited “a design that offers incredible visibility.” He said he’s looking for “aspirational” brands from the fashion, home furnishing and technology worlds.
The project is designed by Handel Architects. Hypo Real Estate Capital is providing $70 million in debt financing. steve.cuozzo@nypost.com