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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Historic Upper West Side Townhouse No Longer Target of Wrecking Ball

City records show the five-story townhouse at 330 W. 86th St. was built around 1900.
City records show the five-story townhouse at 330 W. 86th St. was built around 1900.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

By Leslie Albrecht

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER WEST SIDE — A little building that caused a big fuss among Upper West Side preservationists is safe from the wrecking ball, the Wall Street Journal reported.

After years of lawsuits and opposition from neighbors, a developer who wanted to tear down the five-story 330 W. 86th Street townhouse and replace it with a 17-story glass and brick high-rise has ditched his plans, according to the paper.

Instead, the building at West 86th St., between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, is back on the market for $6.3 million.

Until it sells, real estate investment fund W Financial, which took over the building after the developer pulled out, is renting out the apartments. The fund is also upgrading the townhouse, which had fallen into disrepair during the decade-long legal battle over its future, according to Gregg Winter of W Financial.

A developer has dropped plans to demolish 330 W. 86th St. and replace it with a 17-story high rise, the Wall Street Journal reported.
A developer has dropped plans to demolish 330 W. 86th St. and replace it with a 17-story high rise, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Curbed

W Financial recently renovated a 625-square-foot one-bedroom apartment in the townhouse that's now for rent at $2,600 a month.

"We did a beautiful job painting, sanding, skim-coating," Winter told DNAinfo. "It's probably the nicest unit in the building now. The previous guys didn't really upgrade and improve the building."

That's because the previous owners planned to replace the 1900-era townhouse with a high-rise that neighbors said would destroy the historic elegance of their block.

More than 100 people packed a church basement in June to strategize on how to save the building with representatives of City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal and State Senator Eric Schneiderman.

The news that the building was no longer targeted for development would likely calm neighbors, Winter said.

"They may step down from their thermonuclear position and go from red alert to yellow alert," Winter said.

As for the building's long-term future, Winter said the townhouse would make an ideal single-family home for a wealthy "master of the universe."

"The best thing to do with it is turn it into a beautiful single-family home," Winter said. "There's really a nice building underneath there."