Gansevoort Park Hotel - 420 Park Avenue South @ East 29th St - by Stephen B. Jacobs

[londonlawyer]

Many small buildings on Park Ave. South and on East 29th are empty and scaffolding is up. One occupied building has a sign stating that the restaurant tenant will be moving in July.

A rendering had been posted for this site on the 400 Park Ave. South site a long time ago.

PS: I hope that 400 Park Ave. South starts soon.

[bigkdc]

is that b/w 28th and 29th or 29th and 30th? west side of the street i assume?

[londonlawyer]

It's on the west side of the avenue. I believe it's between 28th and 29th Sts. However, it's on the corner of 29th and some of the buildings are midblock on 29th.

[sfenn1117]

DOB has a permit for a new 15 story building by Garrett Gourlay at 414 PAS. Based on the size of the building it looks like all the low-rises on that block will be taken down.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?allisn=0001323626&requestid=1

No demo permits, just for scaffolding.

[londonlawyer]

DOB has a permit for a new 15 story building by Garrett Gourlay at 414 PAS. Based on the size of the building it looks like all the low-rises on that block will be taken down.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?allisn=0001323626&requestid=1

No demo permits, just for scaffolding.

Thanks. Does Gourlay have a website?

[bigkdc]

Wow I hope Pizza by the Inch finds a new home - that place is amazing!

I have to say - that area is already really congested. I can't imagine how packed the streets will be with a few new towers going up. Between the 28th street train station and the 24 hour McDonalds that area is crowded pretty much all day/night.

[Derek2k3]

I'd be happier if this was still planned as an office tower.

Photo of the site. (http://www.centurionre.com/properties.asp?property_id=10056)

As london mentions, this is the same site as "Horvath Tower" (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5634) and some Ernst & Young looking office tower by BMDG. Maybe these 2 threads should be merged under 420 Park Ave. South.

I attatched the now gone renderings of "Horvath Tower" by Keane Odell.

[londonlawyer]

Thanks for posting this photo, Derek.

For those who have not walked by this site, it includes all of the buildings depicted in the photo.http://www.centurionre.com/upload/Picture%20of%20420%20Park%20Avenue%20South.JPG

http://www.centurionre.com/upload/Picture%20of%20420%20Park%20Avenue%20South.JPG

[londonlawyer]

Thanks for posting this photo, Derek.

For those who have not walked by this site, it includes all of the buildings depicted in the photo. except the big yellow brock one on the right hand side which is on 29th St.

http://www.centurionre.com/upload/Picture%20of%20420%20Park%20Avenue%20South.JPG

[sfenn1117]

The buildings on PAS are nothing special, but those two walk-ups on E 29th are nice. More retail losses though.

Gourlay does have a website but it doesn't offer much.
http://go-arch.com/

[londonlawyer]

The buildings on PAS are nothing special, but those two walk-ups on E 29th are nice. More retail losses though.

Gourlay does have a website but it doesn't offer much.
http://go-arch.com/

I completely agree with you re: the two buildings on E 29th. They're quite nice. In fact, there are many beautiful old buildings on that street especially one located on the north side of the street which was recently restored.

[londonlawyer]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/22/business/23hotel.650.1.jpg
Square Feet

"Counting on a Hotel to Make a Neighborhood Hot"

By C. J. HUGHES
Published: August 22, 2007

To understand how the meatpacking district in downtown Manhattan was transformed from an obscure collection of a few bistros and boutiques scattered among beef-filled warehouses to a hot residential, commercial and entertainment destination, consider Michael Achenbaum’s explanation.

Stephen B. Jacobs Group
A developer is betting that his Gansevoort Park hotel, above, can replicate the success of his Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan.

The area around Park Avenue South and East 29th Street.
One crucial event, he said, was the debut of the Hotel Gansevoort in March 2004 at West 13th Street and Ninth Avenue. After that, he said, the neighborhood suddenly seemed to have a lot more electricity.

Mr. Achenbaum is not entirely objective, of course; he was the hotel’s developer. But the opening of his 13-story 187-room glass-and-steel property, which cost $70 million to build, was a relatively early signal to other investors about the area’s potential.

In addition, the building’s distinctive rooftop bar and pool, open to nonguests, were almost instantly trendy and heightened the buzz about the neighborhood.

Now Mr. Achenbaum, a principal of WSA Management, based in Garden City on Long Island, hopes to copy that neighborhood-fostering success with a new hotel, Gansevoort Park, at the southwestern corner of Park Avenue South and East 29th Street. It is to be developed with Centurion Realty, whose portfolio includes four million square feet of residential and commercial properties, including 12 other New York buildings.

The hurdles, though, might be more daunting, since the area — squeezed between Murray Hill and the Flatiron District, with an unremarkable hodgepodge of phone stores, pharmacies and 16-story offices — does not have a catchy name, or much cachet.

Still, Mr. Achenbaum is thinking splashy, and big: a 19-story glass-and-limestone building with 225 rooms, which will cost $200 million. (The financing is being provided by HSH Nordbank, a German commercial bank, and was locked in before the current credit crisis, he said.)

A wide 150-foot-tall glass column containing light-emitting diodes will display mutating colors along the corner of the building’s facade, in a nod to four similar 15-foot columns at the Hotel Gansevoort.

Gansevoort Park’s top three floors, open to the public, will cover 8,000 square feet. They will include bars, decks and a pool, though the exact configuration is being kept secret, Mr. Achenbaum said, to prevent a competitor from trying to install a similar feature before the hotel is finished in the spring of 2009.

Guest-only areas will include a 3,500-square-foot catering space on the third floor, an outdoor deck and a 2,000-square-foot mezzanine-level spa.

A 10,000-square-foot glass-fronted restaurant space on the sidewalk level, meanwhile, will be leased by Prime One Twelve, a New York offshoot of a Miami Beach steakhouse, though Mr. Achenbaum would not discuss the terms.

He would say, though, that he hopes to get $200 a square foot in annual rent for an adjacent two-floor 1,800-square-foot retail space, preferably from a clothing store.

The hotel site, which encompasses seven parcels that wrap around the corner, now holds a series of low-slung drab buildings, with street-level tenants that include a shoe store, a French restaurant and a bank. Demolition is to start next month, Mr. Achenbaum said.

Gansevoort Park is likely to attract a different clientele than the midmarket hotels that dot the surrounding blocks. Many were built at the turn of the last century, when this neighborhood was a thriving hotel district.

Similar-size hotels, like Hotel Thirty Thirty, which offers 253 rooms at 30 East 30th Street, or the Carlton, with 316 rooms at 88 Madison Avenue, charge about $250 a night for rooms on summer weekends.

Gansevoort Park’s rooms, meanwhile, will cost about twice that.

If the Park Avenue South area is underserved by luxury hotels, so is New York City over all, and the time is right to build them, said Daniel Lesser, a senior managing director with CB Richard Ellis and a specialist in hospitality real estate.

In the last few years, conversions of hotels into condominiums have claimed more than 2,000 rooms in Manhattan, Mr. Lesser said, and the city is poised to lose almost that many more, with the imminent closing of the Hotel Pennsylvania, near Madison Square Garden, which has 1,700 rooms.

Strong demand for New York’s existing 67,000 rooms has meant an average weekly occupancy rate in the last year of 82 percent, according to Smith Travel Research, a lodging industry data provider based in Hendersonville, Tenn. In practical terms, this means weekend nights are usually completely booked, said Jan Freitag, a vice president.

By comparison, Miami, which also attracts a mix of business and leisure travelers, is filling 76 percent of its hotel rooms, while San Francisco is at 72 percent.

“Any new hotel makes sense, because the city clearly needs rooms,” said Mr. Lesser, without commenting on the Gansevoort Park specifically. “And this goes for every submarket, river to river, from 125th Street to Lower Manhattan.”

Gradually, developers seem to be responding. About 8,000 rooms are now under construction, which would be a 12 percent increase, according to Smith Travel. Some, like Gansevoort Park, are planned for traditionally underserved areas; other neighborhoods that have been identified as prime sites are the Bowery and Harlem.

Although Gansevoort Park’s developers may sell some rooms as condos, for now they are focused on making the property a round-the-clock business, they said.

It is critical, then, that they attract those who work in the area, at employers like Credit Suisse First Boston, which has large offices at 1 and 11 Madison Avenue, about five blocks away, said Nathan Gindi, vice president of Centurion Realty, which is based in Manhattan.

“We want people to come in for lunch and after work, not just check in and out,” he said. “We want this to be a destination.”

[sfenn1117]

I'm guessing the original building permit by Garrett Gourlay was for residential and the new owners are developing this hotel. This is a nice development, a trendy hotel could change the feel of this dreary area.

[stache]

You're posting the same article in multiple threads(?)

[lofter1]

And the same pic of the same cheesy project :mad:

[antinimby]

The just posted article mentioned that seven different parcels were assembled for this new project.

That means every one of those small buildings (including the two flanking the yellow one) on E. 29 St. is included, which seems to contradict what london said and what the rendering is showing.

Bad reporting or what? http://www.acura-legend.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/headscratch.gif

[antinimby]

This photo goes with that NY Times article.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/21/realestate/23hotel.650.2.jpg
The area around Park Avenue South and East 29th Street.

[Derek2k3]

SBJ also brought us 325 5th. Apparently they think Manhattan is another barrier island just northeast of Miami.

[antinimby]

I guess this pretty much answers my previous question. The Times was correct - all seven of the smaller buildings will be gone.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8271/420paskn9.jpg

[bigkdc]

Do people think this will have a positive impact on real estate prices in that area? That article talks as if the Gaansevoort in meatpacking made that area hot but it had already turned by the time it opened (Pastis and Lotus were the real important factors).

[Fabrizio]

Yes, that article is incredibly dumb. Florent probably did the most to suddenly get people down there and make it hip.

Anyway, as far as buildings go, the Meatpaking District, Tribeca, Soho etc... all originally became hot because of their HISTORIC buildings NOT because of modern architecture.

[sfenn1117]

^But West Chelsea by the highline is becoming hot because of new ultramodern buildings, so it is possible.

[KipsBay]

...the Meatpaking District, Tribeca, Soho etc... all originally became hot because of their HISTORIC buildings NOT because of modern architecture.

No. The Meatpacking District did not become hot because of "HISTORIC buildings." It got hot because the economy got good (~10+ years ago), "trendy" young adults/kids had disposable income, "trendy" young adults/kids got tired/bored of Soho and the Village, "trendy" young adults wound up on page 6 of the Post donating their bras to Hogs & Heifers, and then more entrepreneurs/developers invested (i.e. more money) in the HISTORIC buildings. And some galleries helped too.

[lofter1]

Oh come on ^^^

So we all nned look for those bras and panties hanging from the street lamps to direct us to the next hot area :rolleyes:

[Fabrizio]

Kipsbay: No. The Meatpacking District did become hot because of its "HISTORIC buildings."

Florent started it all ....in a 1940s HISTORIC diner in the 1980s.

It attracted a heavy-duty creative crowd ...then came the fashion shoots at the restaurant and lots and lots of press. Much the way Odeon put a spotlight on Tribeca.

From there everything else followed.

Historic buildings, cobble stone streets, an edgey run-down atmosphere, ANOTHER over-looked "quaint" (for want of a better term) area had been discovered.

http://www.restaurantflorent.com/press/SKY.html

http://www.restaurantflorent.com/press/NYPOST.html

http://www.restaurantflorent.com/press/TIMEOUT99.html

http://www.nationaltrust.org/Magazine/archives/arch_story/080801.htm

---

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/20070412florent.jpg

http://andrewprokos.com/d/tribeca-odeon-black-white?g2_itemId=690&g2_serialNumber=10


---

[stache]

Let's not forget Mother!

[GrlNxtDr]

-

[KipsBay]

Fabrizio, I apologize. I should have added to my sentence, "trendy young adults/kids ate and had photo shoots at the Florent" too. My bad.

By the way, I was there in the Meatpacking district in the 80s and 90s, and did not eat at the Florent. There were other "hot" things to do then too.

My point, which I thought was obvious (excluding sir Loftiness of course), was that a place, i.e. meatpacking district, becomes trendy not because of "HISTORIC" buildings, and not in spite of, but due to "PEOPLE." The buildings, among other things (and not buildings exclusively either), are just the "marketing vehicle" or lure to latch on to. They buildings can be old or new, interesting or not, with a host of other attributes, but it is people who ultimately make or break a [hot] trend. I agree, with what you say, "Historic buildings, cobble stone streets, an edgey [undiscovered] run-down atmosphere" contributed to the area's appeal and in fact defined the area. Yes that all helps with varying degrees. But a "hot" trendy area can only be ultimately attributed to people - it's an axiom and to believe anything otherwise would be delusionary.

Hey Fabrizio, you even said, "It attracted a heavy-duty creative crowd ...then came the fashion shoots at the restaurant and lots and lots of press..." People, people and more people (well people talking/writing)...

And to bring it back to the thread relevancy, that's why there is hope for Gramercy/Gramercy North/Murray Hill/Rose Hill/Kips Bay area because "PEOPLE" are attempting/investing to make it more fashionable. Will it work? I don't know, but I hope so. Sure, we could certainly use/benefit from some more good architecture in the area, (there are some pockets of brilliance) but I fear writers (i.e. from NY Times) will still banish this area to obscuredom.

[lofter1]

In many of the once- or now-trendy NYC neighborhoods (SoHo, Tribeca, MP) it was the presence of specific buildings (old, derelict , un-rented) that were available to be used as clubs, restaurants, studios, galleries, etc. which then -- once a club / restaurant / artists moved in -- attracted the crowds.

Those buildings were thought to be unworkable for their prior uses (usually manufacturing of some sort) and landlords were often more than happy to get rent $$ out of them no matter the "use".

Lately some NEW buildings are being constructed to house the clubs / restaurants that attract the "trendy" ones (jus take a walk up the Bowery). But over the past few decades most were in the adaptive re-use category (rather than new construction -- which has, for the most part, ridden the coattails of trendiness).

So one could declare that the buildings did come first -- and their very age became the impetus for the change of the neighborhood into a "trendy" / "hot" (now overcrowded / barely walkable) area.

[londonlawyer]

Any news?

[antinimby]

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/6503/img0264cf2.jpg

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1857/img0266cq4.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1760/img0268xq2.jpg

[londonlawyer]

Thanks for the update. Sadly, the buildings on the side street that were razed were quite nice. Nevertheless, the buildings on the Park Ave. South side were not. Therefore, I don't mind this project and will like it if it has nice limestone.

http://www.centurionre.com/upload/Picture%20of%20420%20Park%20Avenue%20South.JPG

P.S.: Do you (or does anyone) know the status of Tessler's project on the east side of Park Ave. South?

[BrooklynRider]

Keep the conversation on 420 PAS going in this thread - not 400 PAS.

Thank you...

[Peteynyc1]

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll80/NickMango/rendering-med.jpg
thanks to Nick Mango!!

[BrooklynRider]

What might it look like with half the lights out and or the curtains drawn? These glass buildings seem to get quite ugly with bad interior window treatments.

[Peteynyc1]

Looks like that stick is going to change colors. That will bring some color, light, and excitment to a pretty dark corridor.

[BrooklynRider]

It's such a "not hip" area. It will be interesting to see how it goes. The interiors are not being designed to 5-star quality and the budgets originally noted would hardly qualify it as a 4-star hotel. I guess we'll see.

[NoyokA]

The "stick" on the Northeast corner was changing colors tonight. Weird that they have it functioning when it's still right in the middle of the construction process.

[stache]

Maybe they're testing -

[lofter1]

Are the light boxes stacked up the corner or does it still look more like THIS (http://curbed.com/archives/2009/11/16/gansevoort_park_gives_a_sneak_preview_of_its_light _show.php) ?

[Derek2k3]

Just like the Gansevoort in Meatpacking, this one is a bit out of place. Why do you need balconies on Park Avenue?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4626101687_28424f2fcf_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/4626101695_c7caecafde_o.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4626101697_789a24a4d2_o.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4626101693_6b0f55d613_o.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4626101689_f5040214bd_o.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4626101699_9a22229ee7_o.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4626102461_b3be1a26c8_o.jpg



I'd be happier with something more like this.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4626102465_57cc4f3c1a_o.jpg

[lofter1]

The light box at the corner is such a tasteless gimmick. Especially the way the white enclosure breaks the solidity at street level.

[Stroika]

"Trashy" is the word that comes to mind.

Sort of the architectural equivalent of this:

9517
http://wirednewyork.com/forum/images/misc/pencil.png

[lofter1]

L o l ^ :D

[londonlawyer]

PAS has so many stunning pre-War office towers. Once a few more crappy parcels are redeveloped (like the one seen on the left side of this photo on the southeast corner of PAS and 30th), it will be a magnificent boulevard. I'd like to see the median and sidewalks widened with more green space added.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4626102461_b3be1a26c8_o.jpg