Graffiti-Covered Bowery Holdout Will Probably Be Converted to Shiny Condos

Feb. 6, 2015 — Do you remember the Bowery? Whether you view it as a former Skid Row or a long-gone hardcore punk rock heaven, its grit defined the New York City that many of us grew up knowing and loving — a New York City that has, thankfully, been captured in Taxi Driver and the French Connection. The face of the Bowery has changed a lot — gentrification has transformed it into an unrecognizable place, a place that has no room for the likes of CBGB anymore, preferring instead trendy shops, restaurants, and a Whole Foods. Many considered the neighborhood's last holdout to be 190 Bowery, that gorgeous, graffiti-covered limestone building, a former bank — in fact, the Germania Bank building — that doubled as a piece of old New York architecture and a snapshot of the Bowery that once was. For more than 40 years, that old bank was home to photographer Jay Maisel. He paid $102,000 for the building in 1966 and resisted selling for years. Last year, however, he made a deal to sell the building to developer Aby Rosen. Citing public records filed with the city late last week, the New York Daily News reported that Maisel got $55 million for it. Rosen's plans? He's put the building back on the market, but it's a safe guess that whoever snaps it up will convert the space to condos, right after the last vestiges of a now extinct neighborhood are scrubbed away for good.

Photo by Joshua Kahn for Property Shark