Horse owners saddle up for first venture into property market

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 3, 2003 by Sabina Mollotov

With two of Manhattan's five horse and carriage stables scheduled to close soon, 15 hansom cab drivers teamed up to save their horses from going homeless and themselves from going out of business, by purchasing their own midtown stable. They also formed their own company, Park View Realty Associates, LLC.

Although the stable is not yet occupied by PVR, the 15 shareholders, who together own about 20 horses, hope to move in by November the latest, said the company CEO Conor McHugh.

The building, which was originally used as a stable by the New York Fire Department at the turn of the century, will require some renovation. A new ventilation system will have to be installed, and new, larger stalls than the ones used in the 1910s, built.

"What was acceptable 80 to 100 years ago is not necessarily up to date today," said McHugh. "We want to make sure the horses have a nice, happy home."

The entire space, 27,000 SF not including the basement, should comfortably house 70 horses, with the extra stalls being rented for $1000 each, per month.

Despite interest in the stable by other drivers, some of whom may lose space for their horses once the other two midtown stables close, McHugh says he has no immediate plans to expand his business or buy any more property. He also intends to keep driving his horse and carriage through Central Park every day.

"That's my first love," said McHugh, who emigrated from Ireland to the U.S. in 1986, and has been driving for a living for 16 years. "At the moment we're just trying to fill a need. We're not in the real estate business. All the space here is becoming so developed, and the only way to protect our business was to buy our own stable."

The PVR stable is located at 614-618 and 622 West 52nd St. and takes up three different buildings as well as a vacant lot. The entire space cost McHugh and the other drivers $4 million, said Randy Modell of Altman-Burack Partners. Modell and partner Earl Altman brokered the deal, representing both buyer and seller.

The sellers, Phillip Karp, the retired owner of Karp Containers and his son Adam who now runs the business, relocated to New Jersey.

Modell, who knew that McHugh was looking for a stable, arranged the deal, which took close to two years to complete, finally closing on August 14.

The earlier for-sale stables Modell suggested to McHugh during his three-year search, didn't work out for various reasons. One possible stable on 34th St. wasn't practical because McHugh was afraid the horses would get too tired from their daily walking commute to Central Park. Another possible stable was on 55th St., but despite signing a contract, that deal didn't pan out, either. Finally, McHugh chose the 52nd St. property, between 11th and 12th avenues.

"It's on a nice quiet block close to the park," said McHugh, "and the building was built with the horses in mind. There's also not much space left in the area, and we were prepared to take what we could get, but this was by far the best."

"These horses would have had nowhere to go," said Modell, who actively pursued the deal. "And New York would be nowhere without them. How many people have proposed on a horse and carriage? Probably thousands."