In December 2013 Robert Kaliner of Ascend Builders partnered with Jeffrey Davidson of West Orange, New Jersey to purchase a vacant apartment building on Waverly Place for $10.2 million. Last week, after an additional $6.5 million was spent for major renovations, the Greek Revival, 1905 brick building, now private residence, sold for over $23 million.

The residence, located at 146 Waverly, was gutted and rebuilt, with the addition of a below-ground floor.

“It was demoed and built from the ground up — the only thing left were the front and side walls,” Mr. Kaliner said, adding, “It wasn’t architecturally beautiful. It was a pretty crummy rental building.”

Their first attempt at selling the property was as a “customizable townhouse” for $22 million. Several months went by when the partners took the house off the market, realizing that no one wanted to get involved in all the dirty work of construction and renovation.

The partners decided instead to create an original interior design for the 7,600-square-foot building. Utilizing the expertise of architect Wayne Turett and Kaliner’s Ascend Builders contracting business, the pair was able to create a wonderful, light-filled house with high ceilings, high-end finishes, floor to ceiling windows and brand new mechanical systems everywhere in the building.

“Our vision was to build something that was classic with a contemporary feel to it,” Mr. Kaliner said. “It’s hard when you’re building a house on spec to pick something that everyone loves. We made sure this house was built the way it should be built.”