UES Building Formerly Home To Wankel's Hardware Is Sold For $9M

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A century-old Yorkville building has been sold to real estate investors by the owner of a family-run hardware store that closed up shop weeks ago, brokers confirmed Thursday.

The five-story building, at 1571-1573 Third Ave., has stood since at least 1896 near the corner of East 88th Street. For all that time, it was owned by the Wankel family, which also operated Wankel's Hardware on the ground floor.

But the building was put up for sale last fall, and Wankel's shut down last month after 125 years in business.

Now, the 17,500-square-foot building has been sold for $9,025,000 by former owner Katherine Wankel to LionsCub Development, a real estate firm run by Andrew Aryeh. The sale, first reported by TradedNY, was confirmed by a broker from Cushman & Wakefield.

But residents may not see any dramatic changes to the building — its air rights have already been sold, meaning no large development is likely to replace it. Indeed, the new owners plan only to renovate the building, broker Brett Weisblum told Patch.

It was not immediately clear what will happen to the tenants in the building's 20 apartments, which included two rent-stabilized and one vacant rent-controlled apartment. Some tenants had moved away since the planned sale was announced, a Cushman & Wakefield spokesperson previously said.

More than 25 offers were made for the Third Avenue building, which was shown more than 75 times, brokers told TradedNY. The sale price is slightly lower than its listed price of $10.4 million.

LionCub Development, one of the two buyers, was founded less than a year ago, according to its Instagram, and has previously purchased at least three other Upper East Side buildings on Madison and First Avenue with plans to renovate them.

The other buyer is the firm Highstone Capital, an investment and development firm.

When Wankel's Hardware was founded, the store sat steps away from the elevated subway line that ran through the neighborhood at the time. Like many others in Yorkville, founders Bernhart and Elizabeth Wankel, were of German ancestry, and sold largely farm equipment in what was then a rural community.

Wankel's became a neighborhood fixture for its reliable stock of housewares, paints, building supplies and other household needs — and also became known for its long-running practice of hiring refugees to staff its store.

Related coverage: Wankel's Hardware Reportedly Closing After 125 Years In Business