Landmarked Brooklyn Lyceum Building For Sale At $10.5M

PARK SLOPE, NY — The landmarked Brooklyn Lyceum building on Fourth Avenue was put up for sale by its owners for $10.5 million, Crain's New York first reported.

Developer Greystone put the former bathhouse at 227 Fourth Ave., which currently houses a Blink Fitness, up for sale this week after they renovated it and used the air rights for a rental property next door.

Greystone first bought the 1908 building on Fourth Avenue and President Street at a foreclosure auction in 2014 for $7.6 million and pumped nearly $5 million to restore the derelict building, according to Crain's.

They originally wanted to convert the space into condominiums but dropped the plans in 2015 because the building's landmarked status made it too difficult, Crain's reported. Blink Fitness leased the building that year until 2033 and opened up a gym there in 2017.

Greystone also bought the vacant lot next door for $13 million in 2015 and is in the process of building a 12-story rental building with 68-units there using the Brooklyn Lyceum air rights, New York YIMBY reported.

The Brooklyn Lyceum first opened in 1910 as the Public Bath No. 7, which was the first bathhouse in the borough to have a swimming pool, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The bathhouse eventually became a gym in the 1930s until it was closed and abandoned in the 1950s, the LPC said. It became a landmark in 1984 when it served as a warehouse.

Eric Richmond bought the property in 1994 and turned into a performance venue dubbed the Brooklyn Lyceum, DNAinfo reported. He fell behind on the mortgage payments and the building went into foreclosure in 2013.

Image: Blink Fitness