$25M save for iconic NYC recording studio
Manhattan’s last full-scale recording studio was spared a condo conversion fate on Tuesday after a renowned Boston music school raised $25 million to buy the West Side building.
Berklee College of Music bought the former Power Station studio — where Bruce Springsteen belted out “Born in the USA,” David Bowie recorded “Let’s Dance,” and Eric Clapton played “Unplugged.”
Power Station has been operating as Avatar since Chieko Imamura in 1996 bought the 33,000-square-foot iconic collection of recording studios at 53rd Street near 10th Avenue.
The building has been for sale for two years.
A second recording studio, The Hit Factory, shuttered in 2005 and was transformed into a 27-unit residential condominium two years later.
Power Station seemed to be headed for a similar fate until Berklee trustee Pete Muller, New York City’s Economic Development Corp. and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment cobbled together a financing deal. The Big Apple will kick in $6 million of the purchase price.
Avatar’s commercial operations will be rebranded Power Station at BerkleeNYC. It will host both free and tuition-based music education programs.
Muller began his music career busking in New York’s subways and played piano at Manhattan’s City Winery as recently as last year. His fortune comes from being one of the country’s foremost hedge fund managers — a day job that Forbes has estimated earned him $200 million last year.
“To know that we are saving a studio that has hosted so many legends is awe-inspiring,” he said of the recording center that was initially a Con Edison power plant.