German Billionaire Behind Purchase Of West Village Block: Report

WEST VILLAGE, NY — It is not so often that an entire street gets bought in the West Village, but it is also not so often that a German billionaire goes on a $500 million spending spree in New York City real estate.

In March, it was reported that a real estate firm called Firebird Grove had spent $32 million to purchase 11 buildings on Patchin Place, a quiet block just off West 10th Street.

In the weeks since, The Real Deal uncovered that billionaire German investor Nicolas Berrgruen is the person behind the massive sale.

Berggruen Holdings formed a partnership with Firebird Grove in 2020 called Oculus "to build a portfolio from under-managed, operationally distressed historic multifamily properties in Brooklyn and Manhattan, according to The Real Deal and Berrgruen's website.

Before the purchase of Patchin Place, records show that Berggruen has already spent more than $175 million on 27 properties in New York City since the beginning of 2020, according to The Real Deal.

Reportedly, his plan is to eventually spend $500 million in the New York City real estate market.

Firebird Grove calls itself a "next-generation real estate investment group that buys, modernizes, and operates medium to large scale assets."

It owns over 100 properties in Berlin and Paris worth over $725 million.

The news of the purchase of 11 buildings on Patchin Place has made its way to the residents of the West Village street.

Gary Weiss, a Patch Place resident since 1991 and the author of the forthcoming book "Retail Gangster," told Patch that he has qualms about the purchase.

"I guess I'm a little nervous, as there's no way of knowing if the landlord plans to take actions that will have an adverse impact on tenants," Weiss said. "In the past, we've had only minor issues — maintenance, occasional evictions, and oddball crap like the guy who ran around to local merchants falsely claiming to run a Patchin Place tenants association."

"Hopefully nothing will happen and it will be like 'Grand Hotel' — people come, people go. Nothing ever happens," he added.

Weiss also mentioned that the landlord sent a note to tenants on Monday saying that they intend to engage in a series of exterior improvements to at least one of the buildings on Patchin Place.

Patchin Place is also landmarked under the Greenwich Village Historic District, meaning that any changes to buildings have to go through an extra level of approval.

Patchin Place is one of the city's last remaining blocks lit by a 19th-century gas streetlight and buildings on the street served as the former home to E.E. Cummings and Marlon Brando.

The street has also been referred to as "Therapy Row," due to the unusually high amount of therapist offices on the stretch of blocks.