Verizon is selling the top of its historic building at 140 West St. — just north of One World Trade Center — to Benjamin Shaoul’s Magnum Real Estate for $274 million.
Magnum plans to turn 22 floors totaling roughly 377,200 square feet into premiere luxury residential condominiums. He will also own one subbasement level. The deal works out to $726 a foot.
The telecom giant is keeping floors two through 10 floors and four sub floors, or 565,800 square feet, for specialized switching equipment.
“We really can’t move that equipment,” said a spokesman.
Verizon is also seeking a retail tenant for as much as 70,000 square feet that would include the ground and two lower levels.
A Guastavino-style tile arched covered walkway stretches on the south side from Washington Street along the closed Vesey Street to West St.
Any retail windows would have to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Public Service Commission will have to sign off on the sale.
Originally designed by Ralph Walker and developed for New York Telephone, the building was restored after damage due to the 9/11 attacks and again after Superstorm Sandy last fall.
A Cushman & Wakefield brokerage team led by Josh Kuriloff, along with the Capital Markets team, marketed the property to developers. C&W, which declined to comment, will also market the retail space.
“Shaoul lives in the area and understands the area and is a believer in the residential revival,” said one person familiar with the developer’s thinking.
Shaoul, who has previously developed smaller projects, including the Yves in Chelsea at 166 W. 18th St. and 133 W. 22nd St., told the Post, “The brick, the bones, the buildings are in such a way that residential layouts fit perfectly.”
The residents will have the exclusive use of a new lobby on Barclay that will include mail and package rooms and cold storage, with another on Washington Street, as well as shared use of Verizon’s lobby.
All the doors will be manned with another doorman in the center by the elevators.
“The architectural details in the landmarked lobby are magnificent,” said Shaoul. “It will have all the bells and whistles of a luxury building.”
The condos will be a mix, with around 10 percent one-bedrooms, 25 percent two-bedrooms and the rest three or more bedrooms. Shaoul expects nearly 25 percent will have outdoor space.
Sizes will range from 1,800 square-foot three bedrooms to 2,500 square-foot four bedrooms to 3,500 square-foot five bedrooms, with extra rooms for an array of offices and interior dens.
The multiple setbacks will also enable the design by architect Ishmael Leyva to encompass 20,000 square feet of amenity space such as children’s playrooms, community space and even a pool and health club. Shaoul said he is also exploring the subcellar for parking.
Nevertheless, Shaoul wants to keep it affordable —at least by New York luxury standards.
“We are not focusing on the price per foot but on creating apartments at a price point and then deliver into the marketplace,” he said.
Douglas Elliman is being retained to market the units.
“There is a big void and I have a lot of friends who are priced out the market and want to live in the area,” Shaoul said.
He is targeting pricing of $3.2 million to $3.6 million for three-bedrooms, and trying to keep the five bedrooms between $6 million and $8 million.
Once the PSC approves the sale, Shaoul, who is still working on financing, intends to close by year end.
“Verizon was really professional and the level of knowledge on the asset made it easy for us to understand,” he said.
The project is steps from TriBeca, which is now the most expensive market in the city for apartments. Rising values also prompted the sale of the St. John’s university campus to other developers, also through C&W.
Verizon already has announced it will move employees to Brooklyn and will also move its headquarters to 1095 Sixth Ave., its former windowless switching station where it retained lower floors.
The company previously sold off parts of 375 Pearl St., where a data center is being developed, and Walker Tower in Chelsea — also designed by Ralph Walker — where other luxury condominiums have sold at high prices.