German Butcher Turns Down $24M Offer For His UES Shop: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The owner of an old-school German butcher shop has turned down eye-popping offers from real estate developers looking to cash in on a real estate boom in the Yorkville neighborhood of the Upper East Side, according to reports.

Jeremy Schaller, whose family has owned Schaller & Weber on Second Avenue for three generations, told the New York Times that a real estate developer offered him $24 million to buy the business' two low-rise buildings.

Despite the persistence of developers, who call Schaller on a weekly basis, the butcher store owner refuses to sell the modest four-story buildings for offers well above the market value. Offers that would allow Schaller & Weber to stay open at the Second Avenue site also haven't been able to tempt the steward of the long-running family business, the Times reported.

"This store is iconic and its aesthetic would be compromised if we knocked down the buildings," Schaller told the Times.

The Times reported that the dilemma facing Schaller & Weber is playing out around the Yorkville section of the Upper East Side, which was built up by immigrants from countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Many longtime businesses have closed and families with deep roots in the neighborhood are moving in the midst of a building boom influenced by the development of the Second Avenue Subway, according to the report.

While the Upper East Side has always had its fair share of high-rise apartments, new towers reach heights such as 50 and 60 stories. The Times reported that a dozen such towers have been built or are near opening in Yorkville in the past five years.

The exact boundaries of Yorkville are undefined, but most would consider the neighborhood to be the area east of Third Avenue and north of East 80th Street.

Read the full New York Times report here.