CUNY Buys Historic Bronx Post Office For $201M

A year after signing a long-term lease at the landmarked Bronx General Post Office for a new community college, the City University of New York has acquired the educational property.

CUNY paid $200.9M for a commercial condo in the Concourse Village building, according to property records. The deal went under contract in March, according to PincusCo, which first reported the deal, and closed Sept. 10.

Prolific Bronx developer Maddd Equities acquired the 175K SF building at 558 Grand Concourse Ave. last July for $44M and struck a deal to lease it to the city’s university system a few months later.

CUNY announced last September that it signed a 35-year lease at the building for a Hostos Community College outpost, expanding on the community college’s specialized nursing, radiology, dental hygiene and other education programs.  

When it first signed with Maddd Equities, CUNY agreed to pay roughly $550M in rent over the lease’s duration. The deal also gave the system the option to buy the property outright within the first five years of its lease, according to The City Reporter.

Hostos graduated roughly 2,500 science, technology, engineering, mathematics and health students in 2025 but expects to be able to double that number by converting the former post office, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez said at the time.

An entity associated with Maddd Equities agreed to carry out around $70M worth of renovations on the building at the time the lease was signed, with the city government pitching in $12.3M.

CUNY acquired the entire four-story building, except for a segment of the basement and ground floors, which was split into a separate commercial condominium unit, according to a document filed with the city in July.

The 1937-built property hadn’t operated as a post office since 2012. Its exterior was landmarked in 1975, and a portion of its interior was landmarked in 2013. 

Youngwoo & Associates bought the Bronx General Post Office in 2014 for $19M, then partnered with investor Bristol Group and spent approximately $60M on the project in the hopes of redeveloping the building with a food hall, retail and office space.

But Youngwoo put the property back on the market for $75M in 2024, and Maddd Equities acquired it a year later, borrowing $31M from an entity linked to LibreMax Capital for the acquisition.