The iconic, wedge-shaped cigar store on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Christopher Street in the West Village is on the market.
In addition to the Village Cigars store itself, the parcel includes the city’s smallest piece of private land, the Hess spite triangle, a two-foot-long tiled sidewalk mosaic that proclaims “Property of the Hess Estate, Which Has Never Been Dedicated for Public Purposes.”
The property’s price tag is reported to be $5.5 million, Real Estate Weekly reported.
Jonathan Posner, who inherited the property from his father, said the pandemic made running the store financially untenable.
“The income from the store is greatly reduced. In light of that, the building, as high profile as it is… I’m a Village resident, as much pride as I take in owning that building, as an investment in real estate, it is not that,” Posner told Gothamist.
He noted that the large billboard atop the cigar shop is still bringing in income, but not enough. “At the end of the day it doesn’t add up,” he said. “If this building wasn’t interesting, or fun to own, I would’ve sold it awhile ago.”
The new owner will also acquire one of the most intriguing pieces of city lore in the Hess triangle, whose provenance starts around 1910, when nearly 300 buildings in the neighborhood were slated to be torn down to widen streets and construct the new subway line. One of the casualties of this project was The Voorhis apartment building, owned by David Hess (no relation to the oil company).
While Hess lost his property to the city, due to an oversight he held on to a small parcel — all that remained by 1914 was what became known as the spite triangle, measuring in around 27½" x 27½" x 25½". The city asked the family to donate it, but they refused, and on July 27th, 1922 they installed the defiant mosaic.
Posner said he doesn’t expect the property to languish on the market.
“I suspect it will bring a very attractive price,” he said. “I’d expect people to be beating each other over the head with bats to get this. People would want it out of ego or future interest. It’s unlike anything else that I own.”
