Manhattan Residential Development

[NYatKNIGHT]

Posts pertaining to 100 W18th St. were moved to that thread (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12291&page=2). Skylimitone, your photos and the responses are there as requested.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Finishing touches on the Mohawk Atelier
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/855/mohawk04cfh9.th.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mohawk04cfh9.jpg)

[antinimby]

londonlawyer, knowing how you hate when they raze nice old buildings. I've got some bad news. Felt angry myself when I read this and checked out the pics of the two buildings that were razed.

It just goes to show that even downzoning or in this case, low FAR's on the side streets doesn't discourage development at all. This site only has a FAR of four and they still razed them.

Betcha the replacement will be a plain modern brick box with balconies.


Greystone Buys Two U.E.S. Lots


http://www.globest.com/newspics/nyc_178180e93rdst.jpg
178-180 E. 93rd St.


By Natalie Dolce
Last updated: November 12, 2007 (http://www.globest.com/news/1033_1033/newyork/165891-1.html) 08:50am


NEW YORK CITY-Julio Bogoricin has sold two contiguous 16-foot-wide lots at 178-180 E. 93rd St. on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in a transaction valued at $8.7 million GlobeSt.com has learned. The identical-sized lots are located on the south side of East 93rd Street between Third and Lexington avenues.

The buyer, New York City-based Greystone Development Group, has the intention of building condos, according to a source close to the deal. The source tells GlobeSt.com that building condos is unconventional in the area--since the area mostly has row houses--and they will be restricted by zoning restrictions since it is a residential zone.

Julio Bogoricin purchased the property last year for $5.6 million, the source explains. He then leveled the buildings and has now resold the land, which contain approximately 1,648 sf for $8.7 million. Combined, they contain approximately 15,240 buildable sf. In spite of the fact that they are located mid-block, not on an avenue, the properties sold for $640 per buildable sf, the source notes.
“Though vacant lots are a rare and desirable commodity in the Upper East Side due to many landmark and zoning restrictions, the final price per buildable sf is an indication of the overall health of the market in this neighborhood,” according to Massey Knakal broker Cory Rosenthal, who exclusively represented the seller with Broker Guthrie Garvin. Massey Knakal Realty Services and Richard Steinberg of Warburg Realty were the brokers in this transaction.

Copyright © 2007 ALM Properties, Inc.

The two properties that were razed were also the two best looking one there. :(
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/7711/178e93jj9.th.png (http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=178e93jj9.png)

[londonlawyer]

F..ing b.s.! That sucks!

[econ_tim]

Anti or someone help me out with this basic question. Acording to the article, the ratio of buildable square feet to lot size is 9.2. Yet you say the FAR is 4. What is the difference between the two?

[antinimby]

There really isn't a difference. It's just that the writer of the article was mistaken when she said the land was only 1648. Either she was unknowingly mistaken or just not being clear enough.

Each lot is 1678 sf for a combined plot size of 3356. From that you should get a ratio closer to the four that I had mentioned.

[poorsod]

Does anybody have info about the development on 610 West 110th? Seems like a condo conversion.

http://www.610w110.com/

Drove by it the other day. But no info on the website. Google search came up with little. ty

[Tectonic]

No info but looks very nice though.

[pricedout]

Corcoran released 5 apts. today in 610 w. 110, ranging from a $900K one bedroom to a $1.5M 2 bedroom. Average price per sf is a little over $1000. Nice location.

[NewYorkDoc]

The two properties that were razed were also the two best looking one there. :(
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/7711/178e93jj9.th.png (http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=178e93jj9.png)

Goodbye New York. Hello any other city in America!

[antinimby]

Right across from the Farley PO, this one could be interesting and something to keep an eye on.

The lot is 8600 sf so I'd say it could be anywhere between 15-25 stories, depending on how they go with the massing/setbacks/base/tower.

Let's hope it will be nice as that will become a prominent corner. Please no O'Hara or Kaufman, please.


Parking Lot Across From Penn Station to Go Residential



by Eliot Brown
Published: November 21, 2007 (http://www.observer.com/2007/parking-lot-across-penn-station-go-residential)

The New York-based Savanna Real Estate Fund is planning a 100,000 square foot mixed-use building across the street from the Farley Post Office and Pennsylvania Station, a corner site home to a parking lot.

The site, 415 Eighth Avenue, is on the southwest corner of Eighth Avenue and 31st Street, a location certain to benefit from the gargantuan amount of development – about $14 billion – envisioned for the immediate area by the state, Vornado Realty Trust, and Related Companies.

Savanna purchased the site for $27,850,000 in early September, according to property records, after the site appeared to have been privately owned since at least the 1980s.

The development plans for the site were announced by Bensen & Associates’ Adelaide Polsinelli, who brokered the sale.

Other representation in the deal came from the Laurie Grasso of Herrick Feinstein for the buyers and Seligson, Rothman & Rothman’s Aaron Seligson for the sellers.

Copyright ©, The New York Observer, L.P.

[antinimby]

Ran across this recently-added project on the DeArch, LLC website (http://www.dearchny.com/).

All it says is "Manhattan Tower" with no indication of where the location is or if it's even in Manhattan or just named Manhattan but in another city.

Any guesses? Looks to be 70+ stories.


http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/215/manhattantowersf7.jpg

[lofter1]

uh oh -- more of those ^ "only on a computer rendering" rounded windows :eek:

That image shows, for a NYC building, LOTS of plaza at street-level plaza space. If it's for real it must be a Hudson Yards area idea.

But methinks it's just a random drawing and nothing more.

[czsz]

Looks like one of those opaque glass buildings that have been thrown up all over the former Soviet Union and show up in special advertising sections in magazines to prove that Whateverstan is modern and can it please get some investment to build more of these now?

[Alonzo-ny]

The whole facade is one piece of glass.

[Laura KC]

Nouvel to Design Manhattan Tower


16 November 2007 15:57


Award winning French architect Jean Nouvel has been selected to design a new 75-storey building in Manhattan, US, by international property company Hines.

The building, located adjacent to The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), will be built on a 17,000ft² site between 53rd and 54th streets.

The building has been designed to rise to form a "distinctive" spire with a steel and glass façade to reveal the diagrid structural design.

The company says Nouvel's design maximizes the site "while considering the city's zoning envelope".

"Nouvel's exciting concept has the potential to become an international architectural design icon," says Hines Chairman Gerald D Hines.

Hines says the building is being considered for a range of uses including a 50,000ft² expansion of MoMA's galleries, a 100-room, seven-star hotel and 120 luxury residential condominiums on the upper floors.

Hines has previously collaborated with Nouvel on both the 40 Mercer in New York's SoHo neighbourhood and the C1 Tower currently under development in Paris.

Mr. Nouvel's completed buildings include the Arab World Institute in Paris, Lyon Opera House and the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center in Berlin.

By Ozge Ibrahim

http://www.designbuild-network.com/news/news3131.html

[ablarc]

^ http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3418&page=8

[Laura KC]

Ah, I should have known that this group is on top of things. Oh well, I tried. Thanks, ablarc :cool:

[antinimby]

When I first saw that rendering, my first thought was the Related project on W. 42 St. (440 W42, to be exact) but then it seemed too tall because that project called for only 60 or so floors.

The other possiblility, as lofter said, could be on the west side, where there are a number of as-yet-to-be seen proposals, of which this could be one.

By the way, good try anyway Laura. ;)

[investordude]

Are you sure that's not what it is - a replacement for the pathmark site? Clearly, if the requirement is to preserve a supermarket and its parking lot, then they had to have a plaza/parking lot in the design. (But I wish they'd get rid of the parking lots in those buildings and put housing there. Why do lower income housing units need a parking lot anyway - in Manhattan, the fact they own a car is a sign of suspicion to me that they are gaming the system)

[lofter1]

Car ownership as a sign of wealth :confused:

Most of the public housing developments were built in the 50s / 60s when there was an assumption that universal car ownership was the way things were moving (Moses-Think). Also, the parking lots are used by Employees of the Housing Authority / supportive services for same.

[econ_tim]

couldn't find the thread for the yves, so posting the picture here:

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8719/yvesze2.jpg

[lofter1]

An abomination ^

The French should sue to have the name changed :mad:

[sfenn1117]

I think the glass looks very good.

[londonlawyer]

I agree. I think it's a nice design also. It's way better than a Macklowe/Zuckerman box.

The only drawback to this building is that it's next door to an ugly Con Ed power station.

[lofter1]

Which means ^ that it will have unobstructed views to the north.

And that we'll be forced to see it from farther away than many other buildings :mad:

[krulltime]

Hmm, I don't see what is wrong with the YVES. I don't like the two buildings next to it.

[krulltime]

Ran across this recently-added project on the DeArch, LLC website (http://www.dearchny.com/).

All it says is "Manhattan Tower" with no indication of where the location is or if it's even in Manhattan or just named Manhattan but in another city.

Any guesses? Looks to be 70+ stories.


http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/215/manhattantowersf7.jpg

This one might look amazing in Long Island City. But I bet is for Dubai.

[Alonzo-ny]

Never, there is actually people walking around at ground level.

[antinimby]

couldn't find the thread for the yves, so posting the picture here:I found the Yves thread (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15121) for you.


This one might look amazing in Long Island City. But I bet is for Dubai.Don't give it away to Dubai just yet. I'm still hoping it will be here.

[jennicak]

couldn't find the thread for the yves, so posting the picture here:

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8719/yvesze2.jpg

glass looks really cool. only concern is people can look into these kind of bldgs.

[investordude]

Do we have a thread yet for the 1 hotel and residences on Bryant Park?

[krulltime]

Are you talking about this thread?

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11274

[investordude]

Yes, that's the one I wanted.

[investordude]

There are 2 sites across the street from each other with excavation going on. 350 West 37th Street looks like it will be a 27 story building according to DOB. DOB also lists an 8 story building for the 320 west 38th street site but it sure looks to me like that's too small because the frontage along 38th street is long enough that you'd kind of expect a larger building here.

In any event, are there already threads for these two projects?

[lofter1]

That ^ is the Glenwood project:

327-345 w 37th + 310-345 w 38th/Developer Glenwood Management Corp. (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15166&highlight=glenwood)

[londonlawyer]

While I despise Solow because he wants to raze a magnificent building on 57th St., I found a rendering of a surprising decent building that he's developing on York and 65th:

http://sotawall.com/proj_thumbs/USA_solow_02_sm.jpg

[krulltime]

^ That rendering has been a proposal for a long time...

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7259

[Peteynyc1]

Wonder if this is going to be a rental like its existing partner next door. The existing already has a really nice circle to drop off passengers and beautiful planting. This building will complete that courtyard. This new building will kill the existing buildings view of the bridge and East. I used to park in the building just to the North (seen in the rendering). That garage has since closed and I heard that lot will be developed as well.

[londonlawyer]

....I used to park in the building just to the North (seen in the rendering). That garage has since closed and I heard that lot will be developed as well.


Are you referring to the old Potampkin Cadillac garage seen in the photo? I hate that POS. I'd also love to see the gas station across the street razed and redeveloped. I used to live on York and think that it, along with 1st and 2d Aves., is a real dump.

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/9345/onesutton8ft.jpg

[Peteynyc1]

Yeah thats the building. The entrance to the garage was on 61st, directly across from the driveway for Solows existing building. The garage was ordered to vacate last March, and we were only given a weeks notice. The guys at the garage said the building had been sold and was being razed and the property redeveloped. I havent been over there since to see any progress. That building is real ugly.

[londonlawyer]

I agree. I hope that the garage is razed ASAP.

[antinimby]

^ That rendering has been a proposal for a long time...Yes, londonlawyer dug up a very old, stale proposal.

It's called Two Sutton Place North and was suppose to come right after the first one but nothing has happened for over two years.

Foolish me, I went there last year expecting to see a hole or some construction underway but instead nothing, not even the old buildings there were demolished.

[Tectonic]

That proposal looks very Darth Vader.

[investordude]

There's buzz on curbed of some massive demolition for a major lot on 98th and lex. Does anyone know what's getting built there?

[londonlawyer]

I want to see the buildings on the north side of 86th between Lex and 3rd razed. They're horrible (especially the Papaya King).

[antinimby]

There's buzz on curbed of some massive demolition for a major lot on 98th and lex. Does anyone know what's getting built there?It's an 18-story squat box by SLCE with 96 units.

Expect something similar to the nondescript squat box (1500 Lexington) that they also did a few years ago on the next block to the south.

DOB NB permit here (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=4&allisn=0001408174&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=&allstrt=).

[econ_tim]

I want to see the buildings on the north side of 86th between Lex and 3rd razed. They're horrible (especially the Papaya King).

i can't understand why that stretch of prime real estate is covered with those one or two storey buildings

[NoyokA]

If I had to guess, the Frank Williams building just to the north of these buildings used all there air-rights.

[NoyokA]

There's buzz on curbed of some massive demolition for a major lot on 98th and lex. Does anyone know what's getting built there?

This will be the first luxury development north of 96th on the East-Side. You heard it here first, if you have the money buy up.

[Front_Porch]

Do we not use the H-word around here?

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[pianoman11686]

As terrible as the aesthetics of that stretch of 86th street are, I wouldn't mind if it stayed pretty much the way it is now. There's a certain organized chaos in that area, and it makes for a "real" neighborhood.

Oh, and the Papaya King is awesome and always packed.

[londonlawyer]

i can't understand why that stretch of prime real estate is covered with those one or two storey buildings

Because ten years ago, this area was a dump.

[NoyokA]

That Papaya King sucks.

[londonlawyer]

And it's filled with drunken lowlives. If I just spent $3m for an apt. in the Brompton or Lucida, I would not want that place across the street from me.

[ASchwarz]

I think Papaya King owns their property.

Hopefully that dump and the adjacent buildings will be bought out and something more appropriate will be built.

[pianoman11686]

And it's filled with drunken lowlives. If I just spent $3m for an apt. in the Brompton or Lucida, I would not want that place across the street from me.

That is a ridiculous generalization.

[londonlawyer]

As terrible as the aesthetics of that stretch of 86th street are, I wouldn't mind if it stayed pretty much the way it is now. There's a certain organized chaos in that area, and it makes for a "real" neighborhood.

Oh, and the Papaya King is awesome and always packed.

I find this statement to be absurd, but, unlike you, I didn't feel compelled to point that out. I don't know what world you live in, but if you need cheap businesses and run-down shops to feel "real," it's a sad one. Paris and London must seem like Disneyland to you.

[pianoman11686]

Never been to either of those.

I don't "need" anything to feel like I'm in a real neighborhood. As it happens, I went to high school in the area, and spent a lot of time in and around 86th street. There's nothing special about it, but there's nothing wrong with it, either. That's the only point I'm trying to make.

Just because two moderately sized luxury condos are going up doesn't mean the entire street needs to change. Maybe, over time, it will. But for now, it works just fine. Your generalization about Papaya King doesn't ring true unless it's late at night on the weekend.

The neighborhood is solid middle to upper-middle class. If you'd have a problem living there as a resident in the Brompton or Lucida, then that's your problem. Don't assume the real residents want to whitewash it to look like Madison Avenue.

[lofter1]

If I just spent $3m for an apt. in the Brompton or Lucida, I would not want that place across the street from me.

Then maybe you shouldn't have bought in that location :cool:

Or at least take up a collection to buy the Papaya King site and build something better.

Besides, don't rich people like a dog with mustard now and then?

Ditto for cash-strapped over-extended newly-arrived condo owners :confused:

[ASchwarz]

The neighborhood is solid middle to upper-middle class.


Wow, I couldn't disagree more. The Upper East Side couldn't be further from middle class.

Bay Ridge is middle class. The Upper East Side is the wealthiest urban neighborhood in the U.S., and probably among the wealthiest neighborhoods on earth.

Papaya King might not have been so ridiculously out-of-place decades ago, when East 86th had an earthy German and Czech feel, but it now looks amazingly incongruous.

I'll be thrilled when those dumpy buildings are demolished.

[londonlawyer]

I assume that the only people in the area who want it to remain grungy are people who live in rent-regulated apartments. People spending millions of dollars on condos want it to be nice.

Anyway, I respect your opinion.

By the way, I highly recommend trips to London and Paris. They are model cities that we should strive to emulate.

[ASchwarz]

^
Exactly. The new owners are not going to spend their money at a terrible hot dog stand. Bring on the bulldozers (please!).

[pianoman11686]

ASchwarz, when you get a chance, take the M86 bus off rush-hour. The people on that bus are not the people that live on 5th and Park Avenues, which I'm sure disproportionately skew the average household incomes for the entire Upper East Side. Or, you could just stand on the sidewalk for a few hours at a time (I've done this on a few occasions, for an unrelated reason). You don't see tourists, and you don't see wealthy. You see ordinary New Yorkers going about their business.

The area I'm talking about is more Yorkville than Carnegie Hill, and yes, it still has good penetration by various ethnicities. The very fact that low-key retail still exists and thrives in an area with such high street traffic confirms the identity of the neighborhood, and serves it well.

Would I lead a campaign to preserve Papaya King or some of the cheap one-story stores if they were threatened with demolition? Hell, no. Would I even be saddened if they left? Probably not. I just don't see the rationale in making the entire place go upscale just because a couple of new high-end condos appeared.

[londonlawyer]

A few months ago, I was watching Hannah and Her Sisters, portions of which were filmed in SoHo in the early 80's. It was so dilapidated and sad looking. Today, by contrast, it is pristine and magnificent. I can't imagine anyone missing its forlorn past.

By the same token, in the early 90's, I went out with someone who lived near 86th and Lex. We went to the theatre on 86th one night, and it, like the whole area, was a rough dump. Ten years from now when this area has improved dramatically, it will be for the better.

P.S.: It's sad that Gershon Barnett razed some very nice buildings on the site of the Lucida when there's a lot of trash in that area (e.g., Gray's) that should have been redeveloped.

[ASchwarz]

ASchwarz, when you get a chance, take the M86 bus off rush-hour....Or, you could just stand on the sidewalk for a few hours at a time (I've done this on a few occasions, for an unrelated reason).

Yeah, I know the 86th Street corridor looks more economically diverse than the rest of the Upper East Side, but that's only because it is one of the city's busiest transit hubs. The subway station is one of the city's 10 busiest, and obviously draws from the the city's huge diversity.

This is true of any subway station in any neighborhood (the demographics of the neighborhood will be somewhat hidden by the overall demographics of the subway ridership). A very poor neighborhood will look more prosperous close to transit hubs, while a very rich neighborhood will look slightly more diverse close to transit hubs.

The fact remains that the Upper East Side as a whole is a rich neighborhood in 2007. You need tons of money to buy a family-sized unit, and the neighborhood caters to the rich moreso than any neighborhood I have seen on earth (Mayfair and Knightsbridge in London comes the closest).

I am not just talking about Fifth/Madison/Park. There's big money on East End Avenue and around Gracie Square and the rest of the Upper East Side has become MUCH more upmarket in recent years. I've only been in NYC for a few years, and even I notice the big changes along the main avenues and along 86th Street.

[pianoman11686]

Your point about transit playing a factor is well-taken, but I still argue there's a substantial difference between the incomes of residents living on either side of Park Avenue. And despite the transit factor, I have always thought that retail west of Park is more upscale than east of Park. This includes restaurants: there are still a lot of fast food places on 86th street and up and down Lex, 3rd and 2nd avenues. Another perfect illustration: Dean and Deluca opened a store a few years ago on 85th and Madison; Gristedes operates on 86th between Park and Lex.

On a more anecdotal level, I know that Yorkville and the northern reaches of the upper East Side are still heavily populated by recent college grads, and I've read that many middle-level professionals still live there. Will this change over time? Probably: you'll see more luxury developments and conversions, all other things equal. But for now, that stretch of 86th street is not upscale, and needn't be - no matter how much ballyhoo is made over the arrival of the Lucida and Brompton.

London: you'd be surprised to find out then, that many people hate the current incarnation of SoHo as an upscale shopping mall, and miss the grit of its predecessor. I'm not one of those people. But I am of the belief that New York stands fine on its own in comparison to great cities like Paris and London. They both inherited a legacy of high-quality architecture in their building stock, that spans wealthy and not-so-wealthy neighborhoods. New York will probably never look like Paris, but it doesn't have to.

[antinimby]

Oh lord...londonlawyer, I thought I went through this same debate not too long ago with you on some other thread about Canal St.

Are you being snobbish again and comparing everything to London this or London that? :D

[Front_Porch]

The most expensive neighborhoods in New York are downtown, and have been for some time.

Pound for pound -- in other words, in terms of average price per square foot. -- the most expensive zip codes in New York are 10007 and 10013, not 10021 and 10028.

I suppose one could argue that the Upper East Side's exclusivity -- it's dominated by co-ops -- depresses its price.

But still:

Average price per square foot, co-ops and condos, Upper East Side: $1,187

Average price per square foot, co-ops and condos, SoHo + Tribeca: $1,391

ali r.
{downtown broker}

*data from Miller Samuel, of course

[pricedout]

I think one of the reasons the price per square foot is reduced in the UES is the fact that there were so many co-ops built or springing from buildings built in the 1970s and early 80s. Most of these are utilitarian at best, and some of them look simply awful. For the most part anything nice goes for quite a bit up here, but there's a significant percentage of units that aren't so nice, or at least are in not so nice buildings.

Having said all that, the UES has always been divided into West of Third and East of Third (with exceptions for certain Carnegie Hill addresses), but it seems as though the developers are doing their best to change that now.

[ASchwarz]

The most expensive neighborhoods in New York are downtown, and have been for some time.



Not really. Uptown's still overwhelmingly where the money's at. And this is coming from someone who prefers downtown. There's far more wealth around the Park than there will ever be downtown.

You are comparing apples and oranges. Can't compare zip codes, because the uptown zip codes can have ten times the population. Can't compare sales prices, because much of the wealthiest downtown neighborhoods have nothing but giant new condo lofts, while the wealthiest uptown neighborhoods have every type of living space (well, excepting lofts).

Neighborhoods like Tribeca and Soho had almost nothing built until recently, while the Upper East Side and Upper West Side have been established for nearly a century. This means you are comparing brand new stuff downtown with stuff built over a century uptown. IMO you can't compare Tribeca loft conversions with postwar white brick studios.
Much of the downtown market consists of giant luxury lofts, while much of the uptown market consists of soaring towers with hundreds of units. Not at all comparable.

Also, the best buildings uptown tend to be coops, while the best buildings downtown tend to be condos.

Uptown neighborhoods are considerably denser and have more of every type of living space (excepting lofts).

If you look where high-worth individuals reside, they are overwhelmingly uptown, and particularly on the East Side, especially west of Lexington and around East End Avenue/Gracie Square. Even 1st/2nd/3rd/York has a pretty high density of wealthy individuals (certainly higher than most of downtown).

[Derek2k3]

While I despise Solow because he wants to raze a magnificent building on 57th St., I found a rendering of a surprising decent building that he's developing on York and 65th:

http://sotawall.com/proj_thumbs/USA_solow_02_sm.jpg

Since this was just posted on the Sota Wall website, it's likely this is starting soon. They say the design is now by Costas Kondylis but still show DBB's rendering, so maybe a different design.

[Front_Porch]

There's far more wealth around the Park than there will ever be downtown . . .

You are comparing apples and oranges . . .


Uptown neighborhoods are considerably denser and have more of every type of living space (excepting lofts).

If you look where high-worth individuals reside, they are overwhelmingly uptown, and particularly on the East Side, especially west of Lexington and around East End Avenue/Gracie Square. Even 1st/2nd/3rd/York has a pretty high density of wealthy individuals (certainly higher than most of downtown).

I take your point that it is a little "apples and oranges" -- the Upper East Side is so big, and so dense, that it is hard to compare anything to it.

It would be fun if some publication like the Observer would do a heat map of billionaires, or something.

That said, anecdotally one can argue (and I am) that wealthy individuals no longer congregate in their old roost the way they did. Four of ten of Forbes' top sales of the year were on the Upper East Side, but two were in the Plaza (10019) and one in 15 Central Park West (10023).

The One York sale didn't make the list -- I don't know if because it hasn't closed or because the number wasn't high enough -- but it is pretty shocking to those of us who lived in the city even five years ago to see a $30 million sale a stone's throw from Chinatown.

I agree the UES is older and therefore has its money somewhat fossilized, which hurts it on a psf comparison basis, but per square foot is still worth something.

Also, no one is going to drastically reshape the UES inventory by taking out 740 Park and condo-izing it, but it is worth noting that new la-di-da UES condo buildings (which is where I think this discussion started) have not exhibited the pull of 40 Mercer or the Jean Nouvel building on West 19th.

To me (and I freely admit that I'm biased) we are seeing a shift of where wealth lives that is equivalent to the post-War shift from townhouses and mansions to "good" apartment buildings.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[ASchwarz]

I don't think we disagree that much. Keep in mind, however, that the new "la di da" UES apartment buildings are usually on York, 1st, 2nd or 3rd Avenues, rather than on the top-tier avenues. Tough to compare a highrise condo tower on 1st Avenue with prime Tribeca or Soho.

New towers on the prime parts of the UES would generate tremendous prices. For example, if/when that Foster building goes up near the Carlyle, you will probably have the priciest building in NYC history. There's another building going up in the low 60's between Madison/Park. I think this one might also break records.

If you could somehow build a full-block building on Fifth or Park, you would probably get even higher prices.

[Peteynyc1]

anyone know anything about the jasper?

http://jaspernewyork.com/

The Jasper website has been updated beyond just a registration page and I must say that it looks gorgeous. I love the "lodge-like" feel of it. Looks very cozy and quaint. Check it out. The floor plans are on there as well, and if you hit "calculate" after viewing the plan of your choice, you get the current price. Mid floors are coming in around 1150/sq ft.

http://www.triplemint.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/04/jasper_pool.jpghttp://www.triplemint.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/04/jasper_lobby_3.jpg
http://www.triplemint.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/04/jasper_kitchen_5.jpg

[jennicak]

thx for the dialogue, help, quips, jokes, etc...

Look forward for 2008!

(ps, thx for the pete, thx for the info on jasper)

[infoshare]

Great architectural design: good-glass too..

http://chelsea-modern.com/

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1048/img0004kb5.th.jpg (http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0004kb5.jpg)

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1636/img0006lv7.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0006lv7.jpg)

[lofter1]

A Hearing at LPC on January 22 (http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/calendar/01_22_08.pdf) for a revised version of this one at 8, 10, 12 Bond Street (at Lafayette) in NoHo...

(DOB Application for a NEW BUILDING (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=2&allisn=0001291276&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=&allstrt=) on this site was Disapproved on 9.28.07 -- Architect: TRA Studio (http://www.trastudio.com/) (> New Buildings > 8 Bond) Traboscia Roiatti Architects / Caterina Roiatti)




Another “contemporary” building for Bond Street in NoHo

http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1142976041_bond8b.gif

21-MAR-06

Ignoring opposition from Community Board 2 and the Historic Districts Council, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved with minor modifications an application for a certificate of appropriateness this morning for a new building in NoHo with an indented ground floor, a curved façade of perforated corrugated metal and another façade of hammered concrete.

The project in question is a 6-story residential condominium building at 8-12 Bond Street on the northwest corner at Lafayette Street.



CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS


BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN
08-4663 - Block 530, lot 63,64
8,10,12 Bond Street, aka 358-364 Lafayette Street


NoHo Historic District


An altered factory building built circa 1920 and two one-story garages designed by Sapolsky & Slobodien and built in 1959.


Application is to amend the design of a previously approved seven-story building

Zoned M1-5B

[Front_Porch]

Great architectural design: good-glass too..



http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1636/img0006lv7.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0006lv7.jpg)

I took clients by to see the Chelsea Modern -- we saw some things at $2MM; everything under $2MM was gone -- about a month ago. It does truly look like a good building, and readers of this forum know I don't love every new condo that goes up.

I would urge potential buyers to walk around the neighborhood because I think that's a large part of what you're buying, the bohemia of West Chelsea, and it's not for everyone.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[RandySavage]

Any renderings for 450 Washington Street. I walked by and think it is now in vertical construction.


http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/project_updates/450_washington_street_31439.aspx

[Front_Porch]

No renderings , but some good speculation on the North Tribeca Development thread : http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5360

I believe the project you're calling 450 Washington is the one referred to one that thread as 454 Washington, in my head it's just the "Jack Parker project."

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[lofter1]

Handel Architects show no plans for this project on their website.

The lot covers the full block and DOB designates it as 450 - 454 Washington.

[25Murray]

Just wanted to let everybody know that I still haven't closed on my Tribeca Space condo (nor has anyone else who bought into the building and was promised occupancy in Fall 2006). No word from Sponsor or Corcoran Marketing as to what the problem is or a projected move-in date. I should have rescinded my purchase contract when I was given the chance to do so by the Attorney General in September 2007. I feel like a real fool now. Do you think the Attorney General will force the Sponsor to grant another right of rescission???:mad::mad::mad:

[Peteynyc1]

Cover Story - January 2008http://newyork.construction.com/RPImages/_.gifhttp://newyork.construction.com/RPImages/_.gifThe Golden Age
High-Rise Residential Construction Keeps Going
by Alex Padalka
http://newyork.construction.com/images/2008/01_Cover-2.jpgNew York and the tri-state area are now feeling the impact of the national subprime mortgage crunch and slowdown in new home construction and residential high-rise projects, but the boom here is far from over.
Unlike the rest of the country, New York continues to attract buyers and renters alike at ever-increasing prices.
"If you're a [New York] contractor and you're not busy now, you're doing something wrong," says Louis Colletti, president of the Building Trades Employers Association in New York City.
The region's builders are adapting to limited space, reclaiming waterfronts, building bolder designs and inventing new mixed-use strategies to diversify their investments, all while facing serious staffing shortages and materials costs that continue to soar.
Better, Smarter Designs
"In the 60s and 70s, design was done under the table," says Costas Kondylis, president of New York's Costas Kondylis and Partners. The focus for any developer-designer relationship used to be efficiency and construction costs. "Today, the major subjects of conversation are design issues."
Related Article: On the Edge (http://newyork.construction.com/features/archive/2008/01_cover1.asp)The change is in large part due to the recent advent of European "starchitects." Manhattan has seen a new era of design since the assignment of Pritzker-prize winners like Italy’s Renzo Piano to the recently completed New York Times Tower, Britain’s Sir Norman Foster on the new Hearst building and Richard Rogers, also of Great Britain, on the new Javits Center.
Kondylis calls this competition "stimulating" and says it is in large part responsible for the current "golden years of architecture in Manhattan." His firm has designed the recently completed Platinum at 247 W. 46th St., a 42-story condo tower featuring a 26-ft-long fireplace in the lobby, for SJP Properties of Parsippany, N.J., and the Link, the 44-story tower at 310 W. 52nd St. that features a glass cube lighted at night at the main entrance and a landscaped terrace with a reflecting pool. The Link was designed for New York's Elad Properties.
"Over the last 10 years, there's been such a focus on costs that architects weren't allowed to be creative," Colletti says. "Bringing in these international architects allowed the domestic architects to think a little outside the box, and that strengthens New York's role as a world-class city."
Still Going Despite the Crunch

The residential market in New York City has effectively skirted the slowdown hitting the rest of the country. As a cosmopolitan city, New York "relates not so much to the U.S. economy but to the international economy," Kondylis says. Combined with the plummeting dollar, real estate in New York continues to attract investors with the stronger Euro and other currencies.
Meanwhile, the skyrocketing price of real estate, at least in Manhattan and Brooklyn, has resulted in another phenomenon: "residences selling for $1 million or more continue to sell more quickly than lower-priced products because purchasers in that price range are largely cash buyers and not as likely to be affected by the subprime mortgage situation," says Sara Mirski, managing director of development for Brooklyn's Boymelgreen Developers.
Extell Development is scheduled to complete late this year the 43-story, $260 million Rushmore at 80 Riverside Blvd. in Manhattan, where residences as large as 3,072-sq-ft will range between $1 million and $7 million.
Also finishing this year is the 57-story Sky House at 11 E. 29th St. in Manhattan, a luxury condo tower designed by FXFOWLE of New York for the Clarett Group, also of New York, with Bovis Lend Lease managing construction. Last year, Bovis completed construction on the 886,000-sq-ft 15 Central Park West for New York's Zeckendorf Development.
The Challenges: Materials and Labor
The continued growth has meant that the cost of materials has continued to skyrocket and trained-labor shortages are being felt by every contractor.
"The availability of foundation, concrete and curtain wall subs is limited," says Dennis Freed, senior vice president of New York's Bovis Lend Lease. "A lot of times you don't even get to bid out, you pick one of these guys and work with them."
Colletti adds that "the market is so strong across every market sector that your quality contractors are close to capacity and are having difficulty recruiting project management personnel. It's really a long-term challenge."
And Jay Badame, chief operational officer at New York's Tishman Construction Corp., says, "Along with the unions, we need to educate the new employees as the older talent leaves, and we need to continue to run safe projects because of the influx of new workers into the workforce." Developers, meanwhile, are seeing tighter and tighter profit margins, and some, such as Boymelgreen, are slowing down their investment in New York. Overall, there's a "disconnect between everyone's aspirations, including the owner, the architect, the marketing people and the consuming public," says Dan Kaplan, principal at FXFOWLE.
The biggest losers, however, may be the city's poorest residents. "The high cost of construction is unfortunately also having a negative impact on both the quality and the quantity of affordable housing development in the city," says Boymelgreen’s Mirski.
Furthermore, despite the groundbreaking designs, the level of craftsmanship in New York is still behind that of the top buildings in other international hotspots.
"The type of building systems and sophistication being installed in London, Shanghai, Dubai, Tokyo is superior to what is being put in place with residential buildings in New York, and we shouldn't settle for that," Kaplan says.
For example, Europeans are used to spending more money on better craftsmanship in anticipation of longer occupancy, Kaplan adds. Still, the New York market is poised to catch up, he says.
"The appetite is there, the will is there and everyone wants the sophistication level," Kaplan says. "The question is how we get there in this market."
More Cooperation
The key to better buildings is "more integration of design and construction," with organizations like the Building Congress and the American Institute of Architects as vehicles for this cooperation, Kaplan says. Architects are already being brought earlier onto the projects as the sites and owners’ demands become more complex.
Construction managers are also feeling the changes and coming in earlier. Bovis's Freed says higher-end finishes the consumer has come to expect demand a higher attention to detail and coordination with the designers and the trades.
In addition, the typical high-rise residential building today is becoming more sophisticated outside, where brick, for example is giving way to window and curtain walls.
"Curtain wall has a much longer lead time than masonry," Freed adds. “On some of these projects we are picking the contractors based on the price we want to get, and then we negotiate after the design is done. If we waited for the drawings, we'd never have the wall in time."
The Future is Mixed

With the slowing down in the market, cautious developers have started hedging their bets. Most recently, with tourism in New York reaching a peak and driving hotel room prices higher, the hotel-condo has become popular.
"For the amenities the hotel provides to the condo owners a piece of the sky you can take the most premium floors and sell them for $1,800 to $3,000 per sq ft," says Pat Di Filippo, executive vice president, New York Region, for Turner Construction.
Tishman Construction of New York is the construction manager on a 57-story, $300 million hotel/condo tower scheduled for completion in 2009 at 123 Washington St. near the World Trade Center site. Scheduled for completion early this year is Renaissance Square, which is being developed by Cappelli Enterprises and will feature two 44-story condo towers flanking a Ritz-Carlton hotel.
Meanwhile, almost every project going up in New York City now has elements of retail or community space on the lower floors.
"What's happening is that there are no good sites left, and institutions have sites and need money, so mixed used is what we're seeing," FXFOWLE’s Kaplan says.
He adds that any community that lies along the major commuter networks from Stamford to New Rochelle to New Brunswick is more likely to attract people looking for "urban" environments where work, play, shopping and entertainment are all rolled together into pedestrian-friendly spaces, with a big shift toward sustainability and energy efficiency.
The Future is Green
With the boom in luxury residential construction, marketing terms like "marble countertops" and "stainless steel appliances" have become standard. This, in turn, has led savvy developers in a new direction: going green.
"It is increasingly important to differentiate each new project in order to break through the market clutter and reach buyers,” Boymelgreen's Mirski says. She adds that her firm is focusing on green development.
"Regardless of apartment or condo, regardless of cost, all owners are still sensitive to sustainable design in construction," says Turner's Di Fillippo. He adds that current construction practices already allow buildings to attain LEED ratings at "little or no cost."
Leaving Manhattan
Pat Di Fillippo, executive vice president of Turner Construction of New York, says that while the condo market will continue to grow, Manhattan may be due for a correction. "Will the people in Manhattan wake up?,” he adds. “You can pay $2 million for a studio in Manhattan or get 3,000 sq ft somewhere else.
"Harlem is an untapped possibility, Queens has already shown that it's capable of residential construction and Brooklyn will continue. I'll be surprised if Staten Island doesn't catch up."
In Harlem, Bovis Lend Lease already started construction last spring on the $126 million Avalon Morningside Park for AvalonBay Communities. Twenty percent of the 296 units are reserved for affordable housing.
In Brooklyn, RAL companies of New York finished developing this fall the $150 million One Brooklyn Bridge Park, which boast 449 units as large as five bedrooms.
Boymelgreen is slated to complete this year two 12-story towers in Park Slope: the 68-unit Crest at Second Street and Fourth Avenue and the 113-unit NOVO Park Slope.
Forest City Ratner Cos.'s $4 billion Atlantic Yards project alone will bring 6,430 units spread across 15 high-rises in downtown Brooklyn, according to the latest plans.
In addition, Williamsburg's waterfront continues to change every day, with 28 new towers 20 to 40 stories high and a total of 10,800 new units expected to be completed by 2015.
Toll Brothers of Horsham, Pa., and L&M Equity of Larchmont, N.Y., have completed One Northside Piers, which features 180 units in a 29-story tower designed by FXFOWLE. Douglaston Development of Douglaston, N.Y., broke ground last year on the Edge, a 1-million-sq-ft complex with 1,400 residential units.
In the Longwood section of the Bronx, New York's Jackson Development Group and Arker Cos. of Woodmere, N.Y., finished developing a $26 million, 12-story rental tower with rents starting at $638, with 10% of the units slated for the formerly homeless.
High-rise residential is going up farther north as well. In New Rochelle, Turner has completed the 558-rental-unit Avalon on the Sound II. Turner is also working on Hudson Park North, a two-tower condo project in Yonkers that includes 12- and 14-story towers, for Stamford, Conn.-based Collins Enterprises. The project, schedule for completion December, will include a two-acre public waterfront.
Farther up in Connecticut, Cappelli Enterprise of Valhalla, N.Y., started construction in May on the $160 million Trump Parc Stamford, a 34-story condo designed by Costas Kondylis for a joint venture of the Trump Organization, Stamford's F.D. Rich Co. and Cappelli. Completion on the tower, which includes one- to three-bedroom apartments and duplexes, is slated for 2009.
Across the river from Manhattan, New Jersey's waterfront continues to attract those buyers seeking more space for a marginal trade-off in commuting times. Construction was slated to start late last year on the $415 million Trump Plaza Jersey City, which will feature two towers 55 stories high and include 862 units.
The same can be expected for other waterfront towns, from Hoboken, Weehawken and up to Fort Lee. Tishman is finishing construction on the first phase of North Beach at Asbury Park, a three-tower waterfront condo high-rise. Applied Development of Hoboken, N.J., is building the 850-unit Liberty Harbor in Hoboken.
Going Global
Some firms have used the growing success to diversify their work outside the tri-state area. Costas Kondylis, for example, now has, for the first time, 12 projects abroad.
"It's a beginning of a global architecture movement, and New York firms have a lot to offer abroad," Kondylis says.
The growth of high-rise residential construction in traditionally single-family-home areas of the outer boroughs may be indicative of a general paradigm shift all over the country. Even one of the country's top single-family builders, Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers has gone into high-rise, mixed-use residential all around New York and New Jersey.

http://newyork.construction.com/features/archive/2008/01_cover.asp

[cdc_angel]

:cool: Hey Guys! This property is now out to bid for general contractors. Due 2/25/8 @ 5pm. This is on its way to becoming condos if anyone was wondering. Later Dayz!:p

[cdc_angel]

:cool: I work for a construction firm so i get the goods

[jlahk464]

I was walking on 10th Avenue and noticed some construction at a site on the west side of the street between 48 and 49. Anyone know what's going on there? I've done some searching and can't seem to find a reference to it.

[brianac]

The 'Impossible Dream' of Rental Development

http://www.nysun.com/images/columnists/90.jpg (http://www.nysun.com/authors/Michael+Stoler)By MICHAEL STOLER (http://www.nysun.com/authors/Michael+Stoler)
March 6, 2008


http://www.nysun.com/pics/72416_main_large.jpgHeuichul Kim
'AFFORDABLE' Rentals Taconic Investment Partners is in partnership with the Related Cos. In the recently completed Caledonia at 450 W. 17th St. The property has 288 rental apartments plus 190 condominiums. Fifty-nine of the units are 'affordable' housing rental apartments, with rents ranging between $461 and $738 a month.

Real estate experts say the development of residential rental apartment buildings is grinding to a halt in New York City (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=New+York+City). Limited availability of financing, high land and construction costs, the elimination of the 421-a program, and limitations on tax exemption financing has led to conditions that make building unprofitable for developers, even as the demand for new rentals is greater than ever.

"Developing rentals is the impossible dream," the chairman of Douglaston Development, Jeffrey Levine (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Jeffrey+Levine), said. "The ongoing strength of the condominium market has absorbed land suitable for residential development. That, in concert with the virtual elimination of tax bond allocations, and the lack of liquidity in the capital market, has made it virtually impossible to create residential rental apartment buildings."

Nevertheless, Mr. Levine and other developers have rental buildings in various phases of construction around the five boroughs. His company is developing a 34-story rental apartment building at 316 Eleventh Ave. near 30th Street with a total of 368 apartments. The building is situated within the Special West Chelsea District, High Line Transfer Corridor and will have 4,000 square feet of retail space and 28,000 square feet of parking.

On the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 31st Street, Savanna Real Estate Fund I LP is planning to develop a residential rental building with 90 luxury rental units, retail space on the lower level and the ground and second floors, and corner frontage on Eighth Avenue and 31st Street.

The largest rental development in Lower Manhattan (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Manhattan), the 74-story mixed-use tower at 8 Spruce St. near City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, is being developed by Forest City Ratner Cos. The project, designed by architect Frank Gehry, would have about 850 rental units, with rents projected at about $85 a square foot.

"There is no question that we have a shortage in rental housing, yet it has become increasingly difficult, if not cost-prohibitive, to add quality housing stock to our already depleted supply," the chairman of national real estate practice at Greenberg Traurig, Robert Ivanhoe, said. "Though the real estate market has taken a respite from its 10-year boom, prices for land have not softened appreciably."

He continued: "Add to that ever-increasing construction costs, the prospect of even higher prices for raw materials and the weak dollar, the expiration of the 421-a program later this year in Manhattan, lack of availability of 80/20 tax exempt low floater bonds to finance large rental projects, and the credit crunch, prospects for new rental projects in Manhattan seems rather bleak, particularly after completion of those projects that were commenced prior to the expiration of the 421-a program. The result of this confluence of events in a supply-constrained market will be to drive up rental rates even higher. It will take a change in the underlying fundamentals of the production of rental housing or governmental action of some sort to create the incentive for developers to produce financially viable multifamily rental housing in Manhattan or in the boroughs." The chairman of the Brody Group, Eric Brody, said it is "nearly impossible to make a residential rental deal make sense unless you purchased the land a number of years ago. There is only one way that I am seeing that rental projects make sense. They are mixed-use projects with retail and residential rental. Strictly residential rental projects are close to impossible, but if you can incorporate retail into the project, you have a shot of getting the deal done. It's still a long shot but retail income can cover a lot of debt."

In the meatpacking district, a joint venture of Taconic Investment Partners and the Related Cos. is building a hybrid of condominium, market-rent, and "affordable" rental apartments. The co-founder and principal at Taconic Investment Partners, Charles Bendit, said it has become "increasingly difficult to build rentals in the boroughs without government subsidies, due in large part of the cost of building. A new building will cost between $300 to $500 per square foot for hard and soft costs, with the low end of the price range being low-rise wood frame or block and plank construction. This does not include the cost of the land. After a loss factor for common areas, the cost per net rentable square foot is between $350 and $600 per square foot. Rent for a property in the boroughs range from as low as a gross rental of $20 per square foot to a high range of $45 per square foot. With the high costs of operating a rental building, one can see that building a rental building is not justifiable."

Mr. Bendit added: "In Manhattan, where rents can be as high as $75 to $90 per square foot, one could justify building rentals, except the fact that land costs won't allow for rental property development. Our company is in partnership with the Related Companies in the recently completed Caledonia (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Caledonia) on Tenth Avenue and 16th Street, where we have 288 rental apartments plus 190 condominiums. The condominiums were all sold within a short period of time and the rentals are just coming to the market. The market is very strong for the rentals, and it would not surprise us to see market rents will be in the range of $85 to $90 per square foot. What enabled us to build rentals, however, was an historic land basis. Today it is more difficult to justify building a rental, including land is in excess of $1,000 per square foot, which makes it economically unfeasible to develop a rental."

Individuals have until March 15 to submit an application to qualify for one of the 59 "affordable" housing rental apartments that are under construction in the Caledonia. Apartments range in size from studio to two bedrooms, with rent ranging between $461 and $738 a month.

"A survey of the core Manhattan housing market indicates over 20,000 housing units from about 90 sites are scheduled to enter the market over the next three years," the president of Metropolitan Valuation, Steven Schleider, said. "Of the scheduled housing units, the split between rental and condominium units is relatively even. The largest concentration of new development is focused in Lower Manhattan and Midtown West. Within Lower Manhattan, almost 60% of the proposed new units are slated to be condominium apartments, with large-scale development scheduled for Battery Park City."

Mr. Schleider added: "In Midtown West, recent zoning changes in the Hudson Yards area has prompted a large number of residential development plans, with the majority focused on rental development. Of the 6,645 units planned, over 80% are scheduled for rental development, with Silverstein's River Place II representing the largest scheduled development at 1,359 apartments, of which approximately 20% will be set aside for low-income households.

"Pricing pressure on well-located, full-service rental buildings in top condition is maintaining annualized rentals in excess of $70 per square foot, with some leases piercing well into the $80s per square foot," he said.

The senior managing director at Rose Associates, James Hedden, said the good news is "that the residential rental market in all five boroughs is strong with low vacancies and healthy rents. This really is a testament to the healthy New York City economy, and the successful economic policies of the city and state. Unfortunately, as a result of this vibrancy, the cost of land, coupled with increasing construction costs, has made it extremely challenging to provide rental housing."

At least 4,000 rental apartments are in various stages of planning and construction in downtown Brooklyn. Developers include Avalon Bay Communities, the Clarett Group, Stahl Real Estate, and developer John Catsimatidis.

A joint venture of Rose Associates and MacFarlane Partners is planning the residential component of the new 65-story building with a total of 916 rental apartments on the former site of the Albee Square Mall. The development, known as CityPoint, is a joint venture of Acadia Realty Trust and PA Associates, which plans to build 500,000 square feet of retail, with enclosed parking, and 125,000 square feet of office space on the lower floors. This project would be the largest new development in Brooklyn in more than a decade.

A managing director at Prudential Douglas Elliman, Andrew Gerringer, said he believes "that we will be seeing more rentals coming on line that were originally planned as condominiums. I know of a 300,000 square foot building in Long Island City that was planning to go condominium; then the lender said they would only lend if it was built as a hybrid rental with a condominium component. Now they changed their mind again and will only lend if it makes sense as a full residential rental. This is a scenario that I believe we will be seeing a lot more of going forward for some time."

The principal of W Financial, Gregg Winter, said that in most cases, "rentals can only be built where land has been held by the developer for years, or in other cases land held for decades for another business purpose, like a parking lot or garage, is developed by the longtime owner, often with a joint venture partner who is a professional developer. If that same parcel were to be sold at market rate, the economics would be unlikely to work as a rental. The sunset of the 421-a program strikes an additional, possibly fatal, blow to the economic viability of developing residential rentals or mixed-use projects in New York City."

"High rental rates and low vacancies, high demand have made it very attractive to developers to plan and build residential rentals," the president of Citi Habitats, Gary Malin, said. "Average rents increased 10.4% from 2005 to 2006 and 5.5% from 2006 to 2007. Vacancy rates for Manhattan averaged at or below 1% for 2007, primarily due to the lack of rental inventory."

Mr. Malin continued: "Given the current credit situation, it is uncertain how many additional rental developments will come to market, but clearly, since New York is a renter-centric city, rental investments should continue to perform in the face of economic uncertainty."

A principal at Rock a Bill Advisors, Tim Henzy, said: "One of the major obstacles to the development of rental housing in Manhattan and more importantly the outer boroughs is the cost of construction. Contractors are used to being paid to build condominiums, particularly high-end; they are therefore not in the mode to bid or build rentals.

"Lenders are highly apprehensive to take on market rental deals in the boroughs until the condo market shakes out. In many instances certain unsold condominium units will become rentals," he said.

A principal at Singer and Bassuk Organization, Scott Singer, said the supply of construction financing available in the market "has been reduced by two main factors, the second being the more significant: First, a few lenders have pulled out of the market entirely, and second, virtually every lender has reduced the maximum loan size exposure they are willing to take on any one transaction."

Mr. Singer added: "However, among the remaining construction loan liquidity in the market, I would expect virtually every lender to say that rental apartments in New York City would be at the very top of their list of preferred projects. The developers who will be able to exploit this dynamic to their greatest advantage are some of the major families who have former garages, parking lots, and industrial facilities that are or can be zoned for residential — where their land cost is effectively zero and therefore the economics of rental development feel attractive. Furthermore, construction lenders will still give these long-term holders credit for the equity value in their land, allowing them to finance 100% of the new development costs with low-cost first mortgage financing in some cases."


Even in these troubling credit-crunch times, expect that established developers of residential buildings will be resourceful in continuing the development of rental buildings to meet the housing needs of the thousands of individuals flocking to reside in New York City.
Mr. Stoler, a contributing editor to The New York Sun, is a television and radio broadcaster and a senior principal at a real estate investment fund. He can be reached at mstoler@newyorkrealestatetv.com.Copyright 2008 The New York Sun.

[brianac]

Buyers Wait To Saddle Up Converted Stable in SoHo

By BRADLEY HOPE (http://www.nysun.com/authors/Bradley+Hope)
Staff Reporter of the Sun
March 13, 2008

http://www.nysun.com/pics/72894_main_large.jpgKonrad Fiedler
11 Spring St. When they bought the former stable, developers celebrated with an art exhibit that highlighted the graffiti-covered walls and facade.

When a pair of Florida (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Florida) developers in 2006 acquired a 19th-century stable and carriage house in SoHo, they celebrated with great fanfare, even hosting a week-long art exhibit featuring the graffiti that covered the facade and inside walls.

The developers, Caroline Cummings and William Elias, spent $12 million to buy the building at 11 Spring St., which had long been vacant, from a former publisher of the New York Post (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=NYP+Holdings+Inc.), Lachlan Murdoch (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Lachlan+Murdoch). They then invested $10 million to convert it into three high-end apartments, the costliest being a $17.95 million triplex penthouse with a private elevator.

Now, after nearly nine months on the market, the developers have yet to sell anything.

"Of course they haven't sold," the broker who represented Mr. Murdoch, Larry Michaels (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Larry+Michaels), said. "Even if you retrofit it with the biggest bling, it's still a five-story brownstone in Little Italy. … They aren't going to sell at those crazy prices."


Mr. Murdoch originally bought the building for $5.25 million in 2003, he said.


In addition to the penthouse, there is a three-bedroom apartment for $15.15 million and a two-bedroom apartment listed at $6.7 million. The average price a square foot is more than $3,500, compared with the average price of $2,223 a square foot for luxury buildings in Manhattan and the average price of $1,450 a square foot in SoHo and TriBeCa, according to fourth-quarter market data from the appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

"They will have to either reduce prices by 30% or leave it on the market until the economy swings back up," Mr. Michaels said. "This is a very educated marketplace." The listing broker at the Corcoran Group for the apartments, Robert Browne, said they haven't sold because construction on the building is not done. "Nobody can go inside and see how fantastic they will be," he said, adding that construction is set to finish in June.

While buying an apartment in the pre-construction stage is not unusual, this building does not offer a model apartment simulating what the units will look like, making a sale more difficult, a broker specializing in luxury sales, Leonard Steinberg, said.

He added that it may also be a result of bad timing. "It's a very high price for that area," he said. "A year or two ago, though, it would have gone right off the market. Things were crazy and people thought if they took their time, they'd lose it."

The SoHo building, which is at the corner of Spring and Elizabeth streets, was once known as the Candle Building, but over the last several decades it has become an unofficial canvas for street artists. The walls inside and the first floor façade are covered in graffiti and other paintings.

Mr. Murdoch originally planned to make the entire building his private residence, but after falling out with his father over the future of their news empire, he returned with his wife to Australia.

After buying the building, the developers invited street artists to paint their last works on the walls, and the space was opened for a short period to the public.

Copyright 2008 The New York Sun.

[paul10003]

From the WSJ: Two Projects in Default Dog Big Home Builders (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120553684871238089.html)
Two massive housing developments in Las Vegas, involving several of the nation's largest home builders, have received default notices on about $765 million in debt ... two joint ventures, involving builders Toll Brothers Inc., KB Home and Lennar Corp. among others, have each missed an interest payment in recent weeks ...Earlier this week, in a filing with the SEC (http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/794170/000089322008000660/w50783e10vq.htm), Toll warned of potential "significant losses" from joint ventures projects:
We have investments and commitments to certain joint ventures with unrelated parties to develop land. These joint ventures usually borrow money to help finance their activities. In certain circumstances, the joint venture participants, including ourselves, are required to provide guarantees of certain obligations relating to the joint ventures. As a result of the continued downturn in the homebuilding industry, some of these joint ventures or their participants have or may become unable or unwilling to fulfill their respective obligations. In addition, we may not have a controlling interest in these joint ventures and, as a result, we may not be able to require these joint ventures or their participants to honor their obligations or renegotiate them on acceptable terms. If the joint ventures or their participants do not honor their obligations, we may be required to expend additional resources or suffer losses, which could be significant.

[brianac]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_255/parking.gif
Downtown Express photo by Shoshanna Bettencourt

Champion Parking wants to change the zoning for this block to allow for a 120-foot building, but neighbors and Community Board 1 think 105 feet should be the limit.


In black & White, neighbors say plan is 15 feet too high

By Julie Shapiro

On a block in North Tribeca, residents and a developer are in agreement on almost everything — but no one is willing to budge on the details.

Both the neighbors and the developer of 84 White St. want to allow residential uses on the block, bounded by Broadway, Lafayette, White and Walker Sts. That block is zoned as a manufacturing district but has been primarily residential and commercial for years, and everyone would stand to benefit from a rezoning: some residents because their property values would go up and bring in more stores for neighbors, and developers, because they could build residential units without getting a variance.

But what the neighbors don’t like is the possible height of the new building at 84 White St., over what is now a parking lot. Under the proposed new zoning, developers could build a structure as tall as 120 feet. Champion Parking currently owns the lot and is looking to rezone it, but they have not decided whether they will build there or sell the land, said Joanna Stoica, of DID Architects, which Champion hired to work on the zoning application.

As part of the application, Stoica created a schematic design of the biggest possible building that would be allowed under the rezoning to a C6-2A district. She showed a nine-story building 120 feet tall, but she emphasized that this is just a possibility for the site, not an actual plan.

Neighbors say a building that tall would be out of context with the neighborhood, blocking light and air. Community Board 1 and at least some nearby neighbors want to see the potential building limited to 105 feet — a seemingly small difference, but neither side wants to give an inch.

Yvette Georges Deeton, who lives at 85 Walker St., is in favor of the rezoning but only with height limits.

“The developer wants to build at a height and bulk completely out of character with the entire block,” she said. “The construction alone will disrupt our lives for a very long time [but the building’s] height and bulk will disrupt our lives forever.”

After listening to several neighbors, C.B. 1’s Tribeca Committee recommended limiting the block’s F.A.R. (floor-to-area ratio) to 5.5, rather than the 6.02 allowed in a C6-2A zone, which would curtail the building’s height. Once the resolution goes to the full board at the end of March, the Department of City Planning will review the application.

Stoica is frustrated with the neighborhood opposition, especially when people suggest that the new building have lower ceilings to reduce its height. That’s not fair, Stoica said, because the surrounding buildings all have high ceilings.

The developers have already compromised, Stoica added, by not requesting rezoning to a C6-4A district, with an allowable F.A.R. of 10, which would permit much bulkier buildings. Another C6-4A district, with taller structures, is just to the south of 84 White St., Stoica said.

“We are not out of scale,” Stoica said. “We didn’t ask for any variance to go higher under the new zoning. We didn’t ask for any extra floor area or height.”

The Tribeca Committee initially agreed with Stoica and approved the zoning change in February. However, after residents and building owners complained about the potential building’s height at February’s full board meeting, the board sent the resolution back to the Tribeca Committee, where it was heard March 12.

The board’s compromise — rezoning the block but advocating a 5.5 F.A.R. instead of the traditional 6.02 — is unorthodox. City Planning usually does not depart from the definitions of zoning districts, though it is not forbidden to do so. A City Planning spokesperson would not comment on specifics of the application.

Deeton’s father, a painter named Paul Georges, bought 85 Walker St. with several friends in 1969. They created one of Tribeca’s first artist lofts before the word “Tribeca” existed, Deeton said.

Deeton calls her deceased father’s studio “a light-drenched space still in a bare-raftered funky state,” displaying Georges’s work and books. Visitors come from around the United States and Europe to see “the breathtaking [studio] with a 22-foot ceiling height under south-lit skylights,” Deeton said.

She and her husband, who paints in the studio, their two young daughters, and her 86-year-old mother live in the building.

Deeton is most concerned that the new building will block sun from the skylights, which provided the setting and inspiration for her father’s work. If the building is limited to 105 feet tall, Deeton thinks the skylights will stay lit.

The rezoning of the block mirrors what the board is trying to do across the rest of North Tribeca: make the neighborhood’s zoning match Tribeca’s increasingly residential uses. C.B. 1 had even hoped to include this block when began working on rezoning North Tribeca, but City Planning repeatedly refused, said Carole DeSaram, chairperson of the Tribeca Committee.

She thinks the city sees the block between Lafayette and Broadway as more part of the Chinatown and Civic Center areas, where buildings are taller, than as part of North Tribeca.

“It’s a whole different situation over there,” DeSaram said.

Just to the northwest of the block under consideration, C.B. 1 is proposing another C6-2A district, but with a lower F.A.R. of 5.0, as part of the Tribeca North rezoning. The reason C.B. 1 was able to request a lower F.A.R. in that area is because it is within the bounds of the Tribeca North special purpose district, which allows City Planning to mix and match the details of zoning labels. The White St. block, on the other hand, is not in a special zone, so City Planning wouldn’t ordinarily modify the F.A.R.

Michael Levine, director of land use and planning for C.B. 1, saw the rezoning as a good opportunity for the community.

“All [the neighbors] will benefit — the property value will increase,” he said. Now, the only residential uses allowed are artist live-work spaces, but the new zoning would permit condos.

Mary Habstritt, whose husband, Gerald Weinstein, owns 80 White St. and 79 Walker St., appreciates the benefits but is wary of changes to the block. She estimated that 75 percent of the block falls into the Tribeca East Historic

District and said two sides of the district directly border the 84 White St. lot.

“It really affects the block’s character,” she said of potential development. “But we could live with 105 feet.”

There are no renderings for the project yet, but only schematics showing the maximum bulk the developer could build, which Stoica would not release. Champion Parking, which hired her, declined to comment.

While Stoica is waiting to hear from City Planning, she is optimistic about the project’s future.

“We thought the zoning district proposed is the best for the area, and we think City Planning thinks the same, but we’ll see,” Stoica said. “It’s a long process.”

Julie@DowntownExpress.com

Copyright 2008 Downtown Express.

[brianac]

Artists In Shadow Of A Planned New Building

By Nick Pinto
POSTED APRIL 1, 2008

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/84WhiteLot.jpg
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/Captions/84WhiteLotCaption.gif

Champion Parking, the owners of a parking lot on White Street between Broadway and Lafayette, want to rezone the two blocks east of Broadway between Walker and White Streets. That means changing the M1-5 mixed industrial zoning to C6-2A commercial zone. And for Champion Parking, it means the chance to put a profitable 120-foot-high apartment building on their lot.

But for artists living and working in the buildings adjoining the lot, the prospect of a new building rising as much as 120 feet above them casts a shadow on their work and livelihood–literally.

As Champion Parking goes through the city approval process for the rezoning, neighbors are urging that the building height be limited—either to the roughly 85 foot height of surrounding buildings, or, at most, to 105 feet. Their aim is to preserve what matters most to artists: light.

Inside 85 Walker Street, on the other side of the block from the proposed building site, every floor is occupied by artists, each of whom relies on the light from the south side to do their work.

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/84WhiteDeeton.jpg
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/Captions/84WhiteDeetonCaption.gif

On the top floor, Christopher Deeton creates abstract paintings on huge canvasses beneath a vaulted skylight 20 feet above. He worries that if the new building goes up as high as its owners want, it will affect his work.

“It’s hard to describe the importance of light,” he said. “This place has a certain vibe to it. It’s timeless. You can listen to Miles Davis in here and it seems like he could be just around the corner. You don’t know if it’s 1940 or 2008. That’s an essential aspect to the creative process. If you lost the light, it would break the vibe.”

Deeton’s wife, Yvette, moved into the space as a child in 1969. Her father, the painter Paul Georges, was among the first in a wave of artists who colonized the industrial wasteland that later became Tribeca. With Georges came the celebrated artist Red Grooms, who still lives and paints on the ground floor.

“We’ve seen the neighborhood change through the years,” Yvette Deeton said. “It’s unrecognizable now, with all of the luxury buildings and everything.

There are still artists around here, but a lot have left. If they owned, they sold. If they didn’t, their landlords evicted them. That’s the way of the world.” Even so, she said, she feels an obligation to try to limit the height of the proposed building.

On the second floor of the building, painter Sydney Licht is also concerned about losing her light. She paints still-lifes by the natural light from her southern windows, which look out over the parking lot.

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/84WhiteGetz.jpg
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/Captions/84WhiteGetzCaption.gif

“I work here because I think New York has a special light,” she said. “That’s something valuable to painters. They have the right to build on their property, but I think in the broader context we need to ask ourselves: Do we really want to force all of our artists out of Manhattan?”

Next door at 81 Walker Street, Jacob Getz says he is the person who will be most affected by a towering new building on the parking lot site. A photographer whose home and studio is lit almost exclusively by a wide bank of curved skylights running the length of his south wall, Getz uses the abundant natural light for much of his work.

He said that his light will suffer no matter how low the new building is, but the smaller it is, the more hours of light he can salvage.

“This is my career,” he said. “I’m scared about how this is going to affect my business and the look of my work.”

On March 25, Mary Habstritt spoke to Community Board 1 on behalf of the Weinstein family, owners of the venerable White Street industrial merchandiser General Tools, as well as several area buildings.

She said that the rezoning would increase property values, but that other factors should be taken into consideration as well.

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/84WhiteDiagram.jpg
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr08/Captions/84WhiteRenderingCaption.gif

“We want to insure that what is built is appropriate to the character of our neighborhood and does no harm to the artistic community,” she said.

At that meeting, the board voted to recommend the zoning change, but to limit the floor-area ratio to 5.5 to minimize building height and mass. But the new commercial zoning allows a 6.02 floor-area ratio, so it is unclear whether the City Planning Department will make an exception on the basis of CB1’s recommendation when it rules on the zoning change.

Juan Reyes, a lawyer representing Champion Parking, said his client is listening to neighbors’ concerns, agreeing to house its mechanical infrastructure in the basement of the new building instead of on its roof, and abiding by a restricted floor-area ratio recommended by the Community Board.

Neighbors of the site are trying to stay optimistic that they will be able to coexist with the proposed building.

“So far we have had a voice,” Licht said after the CB1 vote. “The community board has been very open to our situation. I just hope moving forward that all the parties can stay involved and we can come up with something that works for everybody.”

Copyright 2008 The Tribeca Tribune.

[ReelDeal]

legally?
ive seen buildings without CB approval get built.

[ASchwarz]

^
No.

Community board approval is strictly advisory.

[econ_tim]

9 stories is too tawl!

[antinimby]

A new rental tower will be built on the Rocky Mount Baptist Church in Washington Heights according to today's NY Post (http://www.nypost.com/seven/04022008/business/chows_on_at_capital_grille_104686.htm?page=2):


...In a deal struck with North Manhattan Construction Corp., the Rocky Mount Baptist Church congregation in Washington Heights, will get a fancy new church building and community space, plus lots of neighbors in a new, 100,000 foot rental building that will be built in the rear of its 20,000 foot lot and owned by the developers.

The existing 5,000-foot, one-story church at 37-41 Hillside Ave. will be demolished this fall to make room for a 15,000-foot circular replacement.

The church bought the original site for $140,000 in 1980 but the former senior center was in disrepair and the congregation could not afford the work.

Four developers made proposals before the church, led by Rev. Eugene Hudson, and chose Northern for its promise that it would not make money from the development of the new church.

Of the 75-rental units in the 16-story complex, 20 percent will be reserved for affordable housing, while an additional 11,000 feet of community space is planned for the lower floors and will be used for outreach programs and classes for the church.

When Hudson heard how much the church was worth he was "elated, ecstatic and almost speechless. . . I really thanked the Lord for that. He must want us to continue to do our good works."

[antinimby]

The restoration of 11 Spring St. in SoHo is close to complete and the most of the scaffolding has started to come down.

Before:
http://www.nysun.com/pics/72894_main_large.jpg
NY Sun

http://www.curbed.com/2006_09_11spring.jpg
curbed.com


After:
http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/2208/2400933937_bb2aa20d94_o.jpg
curbed.com

[J.Hayes]

Can anyone direct me to the new development starting next to The Rushmore on the west side RRyards

[antinimby]

What information are you looking for exactly? I thought you were provided with an answer here (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=196406) already.

[antinimby]

Yup, according to newly submitted (and disapproved) DOB permits (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByLocationServlet?requestid=1&allbin=1045277&allstrt=YORK+AVENUE&allnumbhous=1113), Kondylis is the architect of record and the number of stories down to 30 (from the earlier 40-story proposal) so perhaps there will be a new (duller) design.





While I despise Solow because he wants to raze a magnificent building on 57th St., I found a rendering of a surprising decent building that he's developing on York and 65th:

http://sotawall.com/proj_thumbs/USA_solow_02_sm.jpg
Since this was just posted on the Sota Wall website, it's likely this is starting soon. They say the design is now by Costas Kondylis but still show DBB's rendering, so maybe a different design.

[Peteynyc1]

There was a thread created for this project a while back here: http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=226638#post226638

[antinimby]

Thanks Petey. Yeah, I knew about that thread. I just wanted to reply to those two fellas from earlier in this thread.

By the way, there's also another thread here (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3404) from even earlier on the same project.

[Peteynyc1]

Does anyone know what is planned for a building site on Irving, a couple blocks South of Gramercy Park on the west side of the street? There is a midblock building which has been razed and foundation work has already started for something new. Will this be residential? I would imagine it would be at this location, which in my eyes is SO PRIME!

[v70cat]

Yes, a high-end residential condo building.

[v70cat]

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/03/04/please_join_us_in_welcoming_irving_place_to_2008.p hp

[Peteynyc1]

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/03/04/please_join_us_in_welcoming_irving_place_to_2008.p hp
Awesome. Thanks! I can always count on WNY for fast answers!

[v70cat]

Funny I gave you a quick answer but I have gotten no response to my question on the commercial thread.

[antinimby]

Have it not occurred to you that maybe people here may not know the answer?

[antinimby]

From Metalwork to Luxury Condos: Century-Old SoHo Shop Ends Its Run

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/16/nyregion/16metal_600.jpg
Before closing his family’s 100-year-old SoHo metalwork shop forever, Thomas De Lorenzo Sr., 84, waited
to say goodbye to customers and neighbors.


By COREY KILGANNON
Published: May 16, 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/nyregion/16metal.html)

In 1907, a metalwork shop opened in Manhattan in what is now a fashionable area called SoHo. The neighborhood was much grittier then, and the shop served the many local manufacturers.

When SoHo began attracting a creative class a few decades later, artists and designers on low budgets would come into the shop with sketches and requests, and the De Lorenzos, who owned the shop, would set about building what was needed.

Even today, the shop has plenty of work making custom furniture and fittings for the glitzy galleries and expensive lofts and apartments in the area, which is now known for manufacturing high-priced meals and cocktails. But no bending brake or arc welder or cutting torch can alter the hard economic fact that to the De Lorenzos — the third generation is now running the business — the place is worth more closed than open.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/05/16/20080516METAL/23249895.JPG
Even these days, the shop got plenty of work making custom furniture and fittings for the glitzy galleries
and expensive apartments in the neighborhood. But no bending brake, arc welder or cutting torch could
alter the hard economic fact that to the De Lorenzos, the place is worth more closed than open.
Mr. De Lorenzo Sr. worked with Pasquale Petagine on Thursday.


A developer seeking to put up a luxury condominium building has agreed to buy the De Lorenzos’ one-story building, a 30-foot-by-100-foot structure on Grand Street near West Broadway, said Thomas De Lorenzo, 84, who owns the shop with his son Thomas 2nd.

“The only way we were able to stay in business in recent years is that we owned the building,” Mr. De Lorenzo Sr. said.

Thursday was the last working day for the century-old shop, and some of the remaining artists and designers in SoHo dropped by to pay their respects.

“This place is really the last of its kind in an area that used to have so many manufacturing businesses,” said Robert McDougle, a designer who has worked in SoHo for 30 years. He said he enjoyed and benefited from having a small metal shop with an experienced staff fabricate his designs and suggest methods and materials that expanded his vision as a designer.

“They helped many, many artists in SoHo,” he said, as the De Lorenzos and three longtime employees rushed to finish their last few projects.

Mr. De Lorenzo Sr.’s father, Anthony, who died in 1974, owned the shop for many years with his older brother, John.

Thomas Sr. said he worked at the shop after school as a child and then full time after serving in World War II. He became partners with his father in 1952, when the shop was on Thompson Street.

“It used to be all manufacturing down here,” he said, looking out at Grand Street. Next door to the metal shop is an upscale boutique with many magazine clippings in the window. Around the corner is the SoHo Grand Hotel, and one can barely throw a $12 mojito without hitting a fancy cafe or lounge or gallery.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/05/16/20080516METAL/23249283.JPG
The shop's faded sign, painted blue and white over brick, looks fashionably retro in this area of snazzy
signs and storefronts. Mr. De Lorenzo said that in 1968, he and his father paid $65,000 for the building --
"and that was a lot of money then."


Mr. De Lorenzo Sr. said that in 1968, he and his father paid $65,000 for the building — “and that was a lot of money then.”

Now, he said, he will retire to his house in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The price he is getting for the building is more than the business ever made in a century, he said, without revealing the amount.

Mr. De Lorenzo Sr. said he had had many famous clients. They built a terrace enclosure for Paul Newman’s Upper East Side apartment. They made metal baseboards for fencers who competed in the 1976 Olympics.

The actor Fred Gwynne used to come in regularly for metal for his artwork.

The shop’s faded sign — “John De Lorenzo and Bro., Iron and Sheet Metal Contractor” — painted blue and white over brick, looks fashionably retro in this area of snazzy signs and storefronts.

The shop’s contents seem to make up a history of New York. Mr. De Lorenzo 2nd, 60, showed a bulky metal cutter that he said the family bought in 1915 when it was the first of its kind in the City. He showed an old metal ashcan, used for ashes removed from coal-burning furnaces — made by hand with heavy-duty rivets around the rim.

“This was a De Lorenzo ashcan — we used to specialize in them,” said Mr. De Lorenzo 2nd, adding that he would continue to do consulting as a civil engineer.

Rolando-Luis Rivera, a union welder who has worked at the shop for more than 20 years, used a blowtorch to repair a tiered rack used to support the different dishes of a restaurant meal. The hardest part of the job, he said, was maintaining concentration when so many fashionable women walked nonstop past the shop’s open garage door in nice weather.

“The best part of the job is the women,” he said, adding that he was married and that for that reason, “it’s also the worst part.”

He showed some De Lorenzo repairs and creations. There was a small staircase, a stoop, a heavy-duty metal banister. There were tall metal objects with backpack attachments, which he said were custom-made for a puppet theater, to support tall puppets. There were also pieces that no one ever retrieved, including a metal pole with sharp prongs that was ordered as a giant skewer for pig roasts.

“We got all kinds of requests over the years,” Mr. De Lorenzo Sr. said.

“We didn’t ask questions. We just made it.”

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/16/nyregion/16metal02_650.jpg
As the owners of John De Lorenzo and Bro. prepared to close their metalwork shop on Thursday. More Photos > (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/05/16/nyregion/20080516METAL_index.html)

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

[londonlawyer]

I saw that article. I hope the developer owns the corner property too. DeLorenzo's building and the corner property are out-of-place eyesores.

[lofter1]

According to the most recent info at NYC Department of Finance the two neighboring properties on Grand Street are separately owned.

The DeLorenzo property is at 43-45 Grand (Block 227 / Lot 20).

The lot to the east is 47-51 Grand / 330-336 W. Broadway (Block 227 / Lot 22) and acording to the Deed (http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/DocSearch.dll/Detail?Doc_ID=2006052201378001) at DOF was sold in 2006 to "West Broadway 330, LLC" for what appears to be a price of $8,400,000.

A while back I posted some info (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=120443&postcount=1088) on a plan by Rogers Marvel Architects for a new building to go up on the lot at 47 Grand (but I incorrectly connected the corner lot with the separate DeLorenzo "metal fabricator" property next door). However, that project (seen below) is no longer found on the Rogers Marvel website:

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2401&d=1158365155 (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2401&d=1158365155)

[londonlawyer]

Thanks for the info. The building on the corner, like the DeLorenzo building, must go ASAP!

[brianac]

JUST SAY NOLITA

THE LITTLE NABE TO THE NORTH HAS SOME BIG PRICES


By KATHERINE DYKSTRA

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05222008/photos/re046a.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:SLIDES.hotlink())
CANDLE TO IT: Built as a carriage house in the late 1800s, 11 Spring was, until recently, known as the Candle Building, for the glow locals claimed to see in its vacant windows at night. Now? Condos.
http://www.nypost.com/img/slideshow/slideshow_controls_previous.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:previousclick())http://www.nypost.com/img/slideshow/slideshow_controls_play.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:pauseplayclick())http://www.nypost.com/img/slideshow/slideshow_controls_next.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:nextclick())

May 22, 2008 -- When Corcoran Group broker Glenn Schiller began working in Nolita 16 years ago, the neighborhood had no supermarkets and the price per square foot was less than $200. Hell, it wasn't even called Nolita.

"I don't recall the neighborhood being called Nolita 15 years ago," Schiller says. "It was sort of Little Italy."

But in the intervening years the neighborhood got a name, attracted boutiques and restaurants -- and, inevitably, became expensive.

In fact, Schiller has watched condo prices in the neighborhood climb 600 percent to the going rate of about $1,200 -- and that's if you can find something to buy.

"Every time something comes on the market [in Nolita], it moves very quickly," says Tom Doyle, a vice president at Bond New York. "It is a very desired neighborhood for rentals and for sales."

And for good reason. The tiny 'hood -- bordered roughly by Houston Street on the north, the Bowery on the east, Broome Street on the south and Mulberry on the west -- is an enclave of cafe and boutique culture cloistered amid the chaos of Chinatown, the big boxes of SoHo, traffic-choked throughfares and the gritty Lower East Side.

Add to its desirability the state of the neighborhood's residential stock -- "You have the old tenements, the luxury rentals and the older walkups, which are all rentals," says Doyle. Then factor in the dearth of new product for sale.

"There's been no new residential product in the last 20 years," says Trevor Stahelski, a partner at Cardinal Investments -- and it's clear why demand, especially for those looking to buy, is high.

Developers have responded, offering a spate of new residential projects. On Houston Street, 290 Mulberry, a SHoP Architects-designed, 12-story, nine-condo building is rising. Next door is 49-51 Houston by Arpad Baksa Architects. The 14-story, 15-unit condo project will, at the eighth floor, jut off its 25-foot-wide base and cantilever over the five-story prewar apartment building beside it.

Further south, in Nolita proper, there are several more projects in the works: 211 Elizabeth, a 15-unit, ground-up project designed by Roman & Williams Architects; 11 Spring Street, the conversion, by Asfour Guzy Architects, of a carriage house-cum-graffiti-art shrine; and 56 Spring, a seven-story luxury rental building with just five units, also designed by Baksa.

"We'll be adding minor supply to a neighborhood with a huge demand," says Stahelski of 290 Mulberry, which he is developing.
But is the demand big enough to support the high-priced new projects?

The units at 290 Mulberry are at the low end of the new-product spectrum, ranging from $1,400 to $1,900 a square foot; 211 Elizabeth is asking on average $2,200 a foot; and the boutique 11 Spring's three units -- a townhouse, a flat and a penthouse -- are going for between $3,200 and $3,900 a foot, high enough to rival just about anything in the city.

"People pay a premium for SoHo; I think Nolita has the same cachet," says Doyle.

The jury is still out. None of 11 Spring's units -- the lowest is priced at $6.7 million -- has sold, though developer Caroline Cummings of Elias Cummings Development is holding off on aggressive marketing until July, when construction should be nearly completed.

"At this price-point, buyers are picky about their experience," says Cummings.

And only three of the units at 211 Elizabeth, which Stribling's Mary Ellen Cashman has been selling out of an Airstream parked at the corner of Elizabeth and Prince streets, have sold. That said, one was the $6.95 million penthouse, which, according to Cashman, sold to the first person who saw it.
"The problem is there's nothing available for $1 million [in Nolita]," says Doyle.

It's not only the area's housing stock that's changing. A slew of new stores, eateries and hotels are joining the dozens of well-heeled shops, like Henry Lehr, and hipster hangouts, like Cafe Habana.

Recent additions include Oro Bakery and Bar on Broome Street; the restaurant Elizabeth, occupying the former space of Rialto on Elizabeth Street; and True Boutique, a chic clothing store on Mott Street. And Peter Moore Associates is developing a hotel at 250 Bowery, between Prince and Houston streets.
That's a lot of action compared with eight years ago, when Norbert Michalke moved into his two-bedroom apartment at 354 Broome St. Then, the area was quiet.

"It was more a local neighborhood. There were kids outside in the summertime, skateboarding and playing ball games," says Michalke. "Not so much anymore. It's become so busy."

So busy that he recently entertained the idea of moving. But only briefly. "It has so much to give that I decided to stay. In the end it's so charming."
"Everyone who lives in the neighborhood wants to stay in the neighborhood," says Doyle, who also makes his home in Nolita.

Indeed, the neighborhood definitely has an appeal. The buildings are low, the streets quiet, the blocks filled with greenery. And it's likely to stay that way, thanks to building restrictions that preserve the character of the neighborhood (see sidebar) and the lack of development parcels.

As Stahelski will attest, acquiring property in the area isn't easy. "There aren't many vacancies in the neighborhood to assemble a site," he says, noting that he's tried to negotiate with some of the restaurant-supply stores that line the west side of the Bowery, to no avail.

Given such difficulties, Cummings feels she lucked out with 11 Spring.

"It's so unusual in a neighborhood where there was nothing to find an empty building, to find an opportunity to develop," she says. She purchased the building from former Post publisher Lachlan Murdoch, who had planned to develop it as a single-family home before he moved to Australia.

"It used to be considered a fringe area," says Cummings of the building's location, on Spring and Elizabeth streets, and cited the opening of the nearby Whole Foods on Houston and the New Museum on the Bowery as signs that the area has arrived.

There was even a time when people feared Nolita might disappear, as Chinatown spread inexorably northward. But in fact, it's Nolita's hip boutique and cafe culture that is stretching south.

Michalke, whose modeling job takes him all over the world, can attest: "Every time I leave for four weeks, I come back and something new is opening up."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05222008/realestate/just_say_nolita_111913.htm?page=0

Copyright 2008 NYP Holdings,

[brianac]

Good value brings new buyers to Sutton Place

By Jason Sheftell
Daily News Real Estate Correspondent
Friday, May 16th 2008, 4:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/05/16/amd_sutton-place-vintage.jpg
Doorman escorts apartment dwellers to taxi at Sutton Place South in 1952.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/05/16/amd_60-sutton-place.jpg
Keh for News The same 1952 building atrium today.

Time was Sutton Place had the reputation as a stodgy old neighborhood filled with stately New Yorkers who wouldn't be caught dead without a blazer or Chanel (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Chanel+SA) clasp even while walking their dog. They lived in apartment buildings designed by the most heralded architects of their time. From the 1920s to 1970s, the neighborhood was as elegant as any other in the world.

Now, those storied buildings east of First Ave. between 53rd and 59th Sts. under the 59th St. Bridge have acquired a thin layer of dust. The white-and-black checkered marble lobbies have turned slightly gray. The wooden revolving doors need oiling.

Apartment prices, not surprisingly, have recently decreased with deals on large one-bedrooms and nonrenovated townhouses drawing a new set of buyers looking for value and history as they pioneer the next generation of New Yorkers who call Sutton Place home.

The history: In the late 1850s, Sutton Place went by the name of Avenue A. Like it's East Village counterpart, the area was sketchy, filled with breweries and dockworkers.

In the 1870s, a real estate developer named E.B. Sutton (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/E.B.+Sutton) constructed townhouses on Avenue A, a street later renamed for him. The regal townhouses one block from the river brought blue bloods, Park Avenue financiers and society mavens. The daughter of J.P. Morgan (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/JP+Morgan+Chase+%26+Co.) built 1 E. 57th St., now the permanent home of the secretary general of the United Nations (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/United+Nations).

Well-known neighbors have been everyday sightings since the 1940s. Henry Kissinger (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Henry+Kissinger) lived on Sutton Place. Marilyn Monroe (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Marilyn+Monroe) moved to 2 Sutton Place to be close to her then-beau, playwright Arthur Miller (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Arthur+Miller), who lived across the street. Today, former Vanity Fair (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Vanity+Fair+Magazine) and New Yorker editor Tina Brown (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Tina+Brown) lives a few doors from Sutton Place on 57th St. The actress Sigourney Weaver (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Sigourney+Weaver) has a home here.

The townhouses: In one of the fastest renovations in New York (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/New+York) townhouse history, Pamela Ludwick (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Pamela+Ludwick) whipped 31 Sutton Place into shape in two-plus months. Ludwick both preserved and added to the 1899 home's historic charm.

"I kept the rooms their original size and left the stairways thin," says Ludwick, who previously worked for the internationally known interior designer Thomas Jayne (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Thomas+Jayne). "Most people today just demolish the home's original character when they make rooms bigger. It was important I keep the home cozy and maintain its integrity."

Ludwick and her husband, Sean, searched 18 months for a new home. They didn't limit their search to one area, looking at Tribeca lofts, Harlem townhouses, Brooklyn Heights (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Brooklyn+Heights) brownstones and buildings in Red Hook (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Red+Hook).

They chose this home after it was reduced in price, and for its strong bones and neighborhood. Maintaining neutral colors throughout, Ludwick sprinkled 1920s Paris (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Paris) bistro rattan chairs, an ABC Carpet dining room table and bathroom consoles from Restoration Hardware (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Restoration+Hardware+Inc.), sourcing materials locally and online. Purchasing the home for around $4 million last year, they already have offers for $7.5 million.

"Real estate agents knock on our door all the time," says Pamela, who has two children under 5. "We're staying put, though, at least for a while. I still have to finish the place."

I met her husband sitting on their stoop, talking on his phone and looking at the steel beams of the 59th St. Bridge.

"It's like my own personal DUMBO (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/DUMBO+(Brooklyn))," said the real estate developer, who has plans to build a hotel project in West Chelsea with Mexican architect Enrique Norton (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Enrique+Norton).

The apartment buildings: Known for co-op boards demanding 50% financing and rules on financial liquidity (how much cash you have in the bank), Sutton Place boards maintain some control on affluence.

One owner complained that the neighborhood's current long-term apartment holders couldn't satisfy today's standards. "The boards think they have to act like Park Avenue to create value," says the owner, who wished to remain anonymous. "That's not true. Values would increase substantially if the pool of owners were bigger."

Two-bedrooms, costing upwards of $1.6 million, are trading slightly less expensive now than they did in 2003. One-bedrooms with 11/2 baths start at $575,000. A one-bedroom, two-bath billed as a potential two-bedroom was for sale at $649,000. A 23-room original townhouse just went to contract at $29 million.

Gregory and Liz Maidman (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Liz+Maidman) live with their two young children in an 18th-floor apartment over-looking the 59th St. Bridge, Roosevelt Island (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Roosevelt+Island) and Long Island City (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Long+Island+City). The views are as good as any on the East River.
"This is Park Avenue living with river views for $750-$1,500 a foot depending on condition of apartment," says Gregory Maidman (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Gregory+Maidman). "We bought for under $750 per square foot three years ago, spent well under $200 per square foot fixing it up, and now the apartment is worth almost double what we paid."

The husband likes the neighborhood but says it has some convenience drawbacks. "A friend of mine described it as a beautiful residential neighborhood one block from Manhattan (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Manhattan)," he laughs.

"You have to want to be there," says Barbara Fox (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Barbara+Fox), president of Fox Residential Group, an upper East Side-based boutique firm that just represented a buyer at 1 Sutton Place, a Rosario (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Rosario) Candela-designed building. "Young couples and empty nesters wanting convenience to midtown are strong buyers."

The parks, schools and shops: The eastern ends of 58th to 53rd Sts. have city parks and wide dead-ends where residents play with their children and congregate on park benches enjoying the views. On 57th St., the largest of these parks has a statue of a boar. The small 58th St. park is adjacent to Riverview Terrace, a hidden, gated street of modern townhouses marked by two pillar-topped billy goat statues.

Public School 59 has the reputation for changing personnel and erratic, yet still higher than average, test scores. Many parents in strong financial positions consider upper East Side private schools.

Design and antique stores are prominent in the area. There's a Conran Design Store and a Food Emporium (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Food+Emporium) under the bridge on 59th St. and First Ave. The busy midtown streets near Bloomingdale's (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Bloomingdale's+Inc.) begin to dominate the landscape at Third Ave.

Getting there: Take the M57 bus east. You can walk to Sutton Place from the E and 6 train station in the Citicorp Building at 54th St. and Lexington Ave. Sutton Place is also two blocks from the Roosevelt Island tram and a U-turn behind the 59th St. Bridge. It becomes York Ave. at 59th St.

My verdict
Not one of the Sutton Place buildings makes the list of "One Thousand New York Buildings," by Bill Harris (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Bill+Harris). I know why. Looking up, the buildings have a blasé, staid brick quality to them. The top-floor penthouses with large terraces look appealing, but the buildings themselves don't jell as well as the majestic structures on Fifth Ave., Park Ave. or Central Park (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Central+Park) West.

The beauty of this neighborhood is in the hidden details. The wood door with Thai dancing figures and storks carved into it at 6 Sutton Square; the small private park shared by the few tenants of Riverview Terrace; the boar statue in the park at 57th St.; the small stone padre with his hands out on the second floor of the pink stucco at 19 Sutton Place; the 1940s taxi light at the corner of 2 Sutton Place and 57th St., that although still operational, sadly fails to attract taxis in our modern age.

All of those things, along with the couples in tuxedos and evening gowns going to charity events, the old men and women wearing tweeds being helped around by nurse's aides, the roar from the cars speeding back and forth across the bridge, are daily and nightly signs that Sutton Place will always hold some sort of magic.

It just needs a little jarring here and there so people get reminded to look. Another Marilyn Monroe would help.


http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2008/05/16/2008-05-16_good_value_brings_new_buyers_to_sutton_p.html?p age=0

© Copyright 2008 NYDailyNews.com

[Derek2k3]

148 East 24th Street
14 stories
EM Design Group

http://www.newyork-architects.com/portal/pics/_cache/images/12539_em_design_w1_1.jpg
NB Permit (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=110196314&passdocnumber=01)

[BrooklynRider]

I find it rather ghastly.

[antinimby]

Extell plans 15-story residential building at 19 West 20th Street



09-JUN-08

The Extell Development Company has commissioned Beyer Blinder Belle to design a 15-story residential building at 19-25 West 20th Street in the Ladies' Mile Historic District.

An application was assigned to a plan examiner of the Department of Buildings June 4, 2008 for a building with 18 units.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has scheduled a hearing on the design for June 17. The site is currently occupied by a parking garage designed by Matthew Del Gaudio that was built in 1926-7 and a parking lot.

In November, 2005, Extell opened a sales office for two residential condominium projects nearby, the Altair 18 at 32 West 18th Street and the Altair 20 at 15 West 20th Street. The latter is a 9-story building with 17 apartments that was erected in 1905 in neo-Renaissance style designed by Lafayette A. Goldstone.

Copyright © 1994-2008 CITY REALTY.COM INC.

[Tectonic]

Didn't find a thread for it but it seems like work is progressing at 200 North End, BPC.
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/WorkPermitDataServlet?allisn=0001809827&allisn2=0001486324&allbin=1813352&requestid=2

[antinimby]

That is one of the Milstein's two sites (# 23 / 24) next to the ballfields. The thread is here (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9749).

[Tectonic]

Thanks I was searching for 200 West End.

[brianac]

One of Manhattan's Biggest Townhouse Sales! Home of Late Goebbels Kin Goes for $37.5 M.

by Max Abelson (http://www.observer.com/max-abelson) | June 24, 2008
This article was published in the June 30, 2008, edition of The New York Observer.

http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/vertical/files/transfers3.jpg

While the rest of the country wallows in a gruesome housing slump (“He could only nod, tears welling up, when asked if it was hard to make new friends,” The Times wrote this week about a boy, in actual tattered socks, who’s had to move with his mother from rental to rental in Flint, Mich.), the tip-top of New York City’s high-end real estate keeps booming.
Rich realty gets richer and strange people—bespectacled hedge-fund evil geniuses, oil barons and, yes, sometimes the descendants of major Nazis—benefit.

According to city records, the 11,626-square-foot, six-story mansion at 18 East 80th Street sold this month for $37.5 million, one of the largest townhouse deals ever in New York, even though its owners bought the place in 2001, when the asking price was just $8.9 million.

According to old renovation filings, the house belonged to Patricia Halterman, the daughter of German magnate Harald Quandt, whose mother married Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister for public enlightenment and propaganda. (Hitler was the best man at their wedding.) Goebbels and his wife killed themselves after poisoning their children, though Mr. Quandt wasn’t there.

After his death in 1967, his heirs founded Harald Quandt Holding, creating a financial group that now manages assets of over $14 billion, according to their Web site. The extended Quandt family, which owns a major stake in BMW, had to deal last year with a German documentary about the family’s use of wartime slave labor.

Ms. Halterman died in 2005, so it’s not clear where the money from the $37.5 million sale will go, though two names connected to the family’s private equity/hedge fund/real estate group, called Auda, are written on the deed. The buyer is listed anonymously as a limited liability corporation.

The house was never officially put on the market, although one broker said Paula Del Nunzio was involved with the deal. Ms. Del Nunzio did not return an e-mail asking for comment.

“Everything, practically, was removed; it was basically a shell,” the architect Zack McKown, who is listed on those renovation filings, said about his work for Ms. Halterman, though he wouldn’t discuss the client.

“There was practically nothing left except the front and back walls.
“But what was interesting for us in designing the house—the owner was someone who had a very sophisticated modern sensibility; she had a wonderful art collection including Rothko, Calder, Sol LeWitt. And so we designed the house with the modern sensibility, but respecting its roots.”

Mr. McKown said the stairwell built for the house was draped with safety netting made from a very fine variety of nylon fishnet—a sculptural device to keep children from falling down. There was a rope ladder in a child’s bedroom, a personal gym, and “the most gracious entrance to any house that I’ve seen,” he said, with a fireplace carved into pale limestone.


mabelson@observer.com


http://www.observer.com/2008/one-manhattan-s-biggest-townhouse-sales-home-late-goebbels-kin-goes-37-5-m


© 2008 Observer Media Group

[lofter1]

From May, 2007

Anybody know what's up with The Onyx?

... seems nothing has happened here for a couple of months.






I heard that sales were going slow but the broker marketing machine is spinning it that they have sold 3/4 of the units. As Front Porch has explained, that probably means that they have sold 3/4 of the units released to date (which could be 8 for all we know).

From CURBED (with an "update" and some interesting claims from the
broker dude -- including semantics regarding "stalled" vs. "slight delay",
but when you're talking six months I know which term I'd use :cool:) ...

Renting at The Onyx, Things Have Gone from Black to Red

CURBED
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_06_RentOnyx1a.JPG

Have tough times arrived over at The Onyx, the often-stalled (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/08/06/development_updateorama_stalled_at_onyx_166_perry. php) 52-unit
condo project at 261 West 28th Street? Perhaps the infamous credit crunch (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/06/05/your_morning_credit_crunch.php)
is to fault for the RENT NOW signs which have recently appeared there.
It was only a year ago that the Onyx gang was partying it up (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/03/01/onyx_parties_down.php), celebrating
the possibility of living within that big stack of black. So, besides the
general economic nightmare what's going on? Gripes (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/04/23/new_development_gripewire_chelsea_edition.php) from those who
bought there have not gone unnoticed. But being just a stone's throw
from midtown, and with the Lincoln Tunnel so close, what could there be
not to like? Those who are still interested might want to take a look at a
couple of listings, the first (http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=1285628) starting just below $6K per month for
something new with 1-bed 1-bath. An even $7K brings another 1-bed,
but this one has a big spacious terrace for viewing the world below.
Deals abound!

[NOTE: That "just below $6K" !B / 1b has been CHOPPED down to $4.995K / month !!!]

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_06_RentOnyx3a.JPG
The local street scene down on Eighth Avenue.

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_06_RentOnyx45K.JPG
Minimal is the word for a 1-bed 1-bath at just under $6K / month.

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_06_RentOnyx57K.JPG
$7K / month includes a terrace overlooking the Avenue.

· Development Update-o-Rama: Stalled at Onyx (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/08/06/development_updateorama_stalled_at_onyx_166_perry. php) [Curbed]
· Onyx Parties Down (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/03/01/onyx_parties_down.php) [Curbed]
· New Development GripeWire: Chelsea Edition (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/04/23/new_development_gripewire_chelsea_edition.php) [Curbed]

***

UPDATE: Corcoran broker Joseph Bongiovanni writes: "Having sold out
the Onyx Chelsea myself, I can tell you it is, in fact, sold out. A few
condo owners who bought and closed are renting out their units. The 'For
Rent' sign is for the commercial space. For the record, the Onyx never
stalled although there was a slight delay of putting up the façade. It is
an awards-winning façade designed by the highly acclaimed FXFowle."

onyx

[lofter1]

Renting at The Onyx, Things Have Gone from Black to Red

... that big stack of black.

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_6_onyxsm.jpg

***

UPDATE: Corcoran broker Joseph Bongiovanni writes: "Having sold out the Onyx Chelsea
myself ... there was a slight delay of putting up the façade.

It is an awards-winning façade designed by the highly acclaimed FXFowle."


A quick check of the fxfowle website (http://www.fxfowle.com/) (where there is actually an entire section for AWARDS)
shows NOTHING in regards to any award for the Onyx facade.

:rolleyes:

Anyone got info to substantiate the broker's claim of "award-winning facade" here?

:confused:

[Front_Porch]

There is a lawsuit between Mr. Bongiovanni and his old firm, Core . . .

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/core-sued-by-former-broker/print

and I believe that they were selling the Onyx during that tumultous time, which might explain what looks like the start-and-stop nature of the sales.

I like the building, though I think its best feature is the spa baths. The rental prices do seem high compared to other new glass boxes, but it is closer to Chelsea than some . ..

I am not an architect-head, so I can't comment on the facade. I can't even find my cedilla key.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[antinimby]

Can't believe they'll raze this synagogue for a new six-story condo.

Who wants to bet it'll be a brick box with AC vents, exposed floorplates and ugly, rectangular steel balconies sticking out?

This city is so bullshit.

From curbed (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/08/04/proposed_new_east_village_synagogue_looks_suspicio usly_like_apartment_building.php#reader_comments):

Proposed New East Village Synagogue Looks Suspiciously Like Apartment Building

Monday, August 4, 2008, by EV Grieve

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_08_syn2.jpg

The board of directors at Adas Le Israel Anshei Meseritz at 415 East Sixth St. (at First Ave.) voted last month to okay the demolition of the synagogue and replace it with a new one—one that, a few extras aside, looks suspiciously like an apartment building. The plan calls for a six-story residential building that would also contain a synagogue on the first two floors. The deal was struck with the Kushner Companies. But, per The Villager, "[One] prominent member of the dwindling congregation has questions about the transparency of the deal with the developer, and his lawyer has asked the state attorney general... to look into the matter." Hmmm. By the way, several members of the synagogue Anshe Meseritz were among the locals who objected to nearby fancy drink emporium Death & Co.'s name and appearance. —EV Grieve

[NoyokA]

As far as the Onyx. Yes its in Chelsea. But its located in one of the seediest parts of Manhattan. There's the projects across the street and nothing but Penn Station area dive bars, strip joints, and bodegas. Hardly a respectable restaurant or supermarket in the area.

[lofter1]

Projects across the street? That would be ... :confused:

[NoyokA]

I was describing the livability and the towers in the park across the street offer nothing but an after hours wasteland. The towers in the park, which I believe are Coops spill into The Chelsea Houses (so yes the PJ's are your neighbors). The Chelsea Houses are among the worst in Manhattan. 8th between 14th and 34th is a pretty shady stretch. I'd live there but I wouldn't pay $6,000 for a one bedroom there. I dated someone who lived in the dorms at FIT and was always hardpressed to find a decent place to eat in the area.

[ASchwarz]

There are no projects on 8th Avenue in Manhattan.

Are you referring to the Chelsea coop buildings? They are hardly projects.

I am always amazed at people discounting areas because of fear of "projects".

Q. Which borough has the highest number of projects?

A. Manhattan!

Places like Chelsea and the Upper West Side have tons of projects, and they are among the most expensive neighborhoods on earth. Even the Upper East Side has projects. There is no neighborhood in Manhattan that is not within walking distance from a project, yet Manhattan is one of the most expensive and desirable places on the planet.

15 CPW is a short stroll from a project, yet it is one of the most desirable buildings on the planet.

As for the existing projects, they are the best in the country (I know, faint praise given the competition). The sites will all be redeveloped anyways in the coming years. The existing buildings will stay, but middle income and market rate buildings will be built on parking lots and on adjacent sites through air rights.

[scumonkey]

Since when did (and I think he was referring to), the Chelsae public housing projects
(Chelsea-Elliott houses) turn into coops? Although they are mostly on the 9th ave side...
Last time I walked through there (a couple of weeks ago), Cops where everywhere
with their guns out!:eek:
Good place to not be after dark.

[lofter1]

This was the statement I was inquiring about:


...the Onyx.

Yes its in Chelsea. But its located in one of the seediest parts of Manhattan.

There's the projects across the street ...


If one now says "well, technically those porjects are two avenues over, but to get their you have to go 'across' the street" then one could argue that projects in Trenton are also "across the street" :cool:

The Penn Houses coop complex are erroneously labeled "projects" in the same way that Stuy Town / PC Village are called "projects".

Don't be judgin' no books by their covers -- and if one is inclined to do so then one should first clean the glasses through which one views the books' covers :cool:

[lofter1]

the Chelsae public housing projects (Chelsea-Elliott houses) ... mostly on the 9th ave side ...


Given the distance between avenues then that's about 1/5 mile away from The Onyx.

[Peteynyc1]

I used to work 2 blocks South of the Onyx location on 8th Ave and then up a bit on 30th and 8th. This stretch going up toward Penn Station was always one of the crappiest areas. Not only is it because of the low income housing (ie projects) across the street, but there is a methadone clinic just North, as well as some other public assistance agencies (not sure what kind though). I was surprised to see "luxury" condos going into this location. Similar to the shady folks who frequent just South of Port Authority on 8th, Penn Station also has its shiftier bunch who happen to also hang just South of the station on 8th Avenue. This area from 28th up to 31st has a long way to go and is far from luxury, a possible reason for their troubles.

[NoyokA]

Lofter if you want to get technical, fine, I wouldn't expect any less from you. But my original statement remains true in that I was discussing the livability of the area which everyone else has alluded to is awful, it might technically be Chelsea, and the building might be luxury, but the neighborhood is not. The projects might technically be 1/5 of a mile away and a block over, but they are connected by the coop towers in the park, which have no streetlife, no storefronts, and no security or doormen, just empty deserted space effectively allowing all the unsavory characters and illegal activity there to congregate here. Anyone with an understanding of urban planning would know that.

So yes, there are no "projects across the street". You win. :rolleyes:

[Fabrizio]

Interesting to note that one block over from 8th, the Yves at 18th and 7th, has a penthouse priced at 16 million.

16 million.

(It's a mid-rise, gotta make their money back somehow...)

[lofter1]

Lofter if you want to get technical... The projects might technically be 1/5 of a mile away and a block over ... just empty deserted space effectively allowing all the unsavory characters and illegal activity ... Anyone with an understanding of urban planning would know that.

So yes, there are no "projects across the street".


Glad to ge that cleared up ;)

But that "empty deserted space" also contains playgrounds & community garden plots with local folks out doing their thing -- and bothering not a soul.

It just so happens that for a number of years back in the 80s & 90s (when things in NYC were deemed far more "dangerous" than they are now) I spent a lot of time working in a studio located on 29th Street nearby the Ninth Avenue / Tenth Avenue frontage of the Chelsea Houses. I traveled to & from that site on foot -- and was there at all hours of the day & night. A good number of women, many of whom footed it indivdually from 8th Avenue subway lines to the studio -- right past the Chelsea Houses -- worked with me in the studio.

Not once in all those years did any one of us have any problem with residents of the Chelsea Houses.

One might say that folks with an understanding of how to live in a city know that just because someone claims something is nasty and bad doesn't necesarily make it so.

The view that open space = hordes of unsavory characters preying upon the good people of our fair city harkens back to some illusive place that was written about in the 19th Century.

[NoyokA]

Interesting to note that one block over from 8th, the Yves at 18th and 7th, has a penthouse priced at 16 million.

16 million.

(It's a mid-rise, gotta make their money back somehow...)

Too bad its not a low-rise or they could've charged 30 million for the same apartment. :rolleyes:

[Peteynyc1]

The location does have an abundance of hot young FIT chicks though.

[NoyokA]

Lofter I don’t get your point. New York as a whole is a very safe city. I’ve lived in the City for most of my life and I’ve never once had a problem. I went to City College, now because I was never mugged that makes Washington Heights a good/safe area? Right now I live right next to a small housing project, The Nathan Strauss Houses. I pay ¼ of the rent at The Onyx. But the little stretch by the Nathan Strauss Houses is a pretty shady stretch; I always see bro’s outside drinking 40’s, drug transactions, and prostitution. I’ve never had any problems but I talk to my super, my mailman, a good friend that’s lived in the building for his entire life, and my barber who’s right there. They all tell me stories of what goes on. I’m not afraid of walking by housing projects, I’ve never once had a problem, I know how to carry myself, people see I’m just going about my business, that I don’t go where I don’t belong and that I’m not looking for any trouble, I don’t bother them and they don’t bother me. But there is no denying that there is a correlation between the seediness of an area and pjs. There would be no bro's without shirts and shorts around their ass blasting rap from their boomboxes at 28th and 2nd if Nathan Strauss wasn't there. This area is full of nice small restaurants and bars, in this immediate area however there's nothing but bodegas, barbers, and a cheap chinese restaurant. And these bro’s do hangout in the open spaces at the Chelsea Coops, how do I know, I’ve seen them, like I said I’m in the area often. Unless you’re Stuyvesant Town where you pour massive amounts of money into security and capital improvements, towers in the park are going to look a lot more like towers in the dirt lot. The only people hanging out in the community gardens and playgrounds once the sun sets are those looking to deal. Like I said 8th Avenue between 14th and 34th is a pretty shady stretch, and yes the PJS on 9th have something to do with that.

[NoyokA]

The location does have an abundance of hot young FIT chicks though.

Don't I know it. My last three girlfriends went to FIT. Whenever I signed into FIT I felt like I was in heaven.

[lofter1]

Stern: My point? I was responding to what you wrote about the neighborhood. You're the one who made this comment about the area:




... connected by the coop towers in the park, which have no streetlife, no storefronts, and no security or doormen, just empty deserted space effectively allowing all the unsavory characters and illegal activity there to congregate here. Anyone with an understanding of urban planning would know that.


My many years of working in that area revealed no problem with "unsavory characters and illegal activity". Did I see that stuff? Sure. But I've seen the same in City Hall, as well. :cool:

Comments that have been posted only make me wonder how familiar one could really be with the specific area and what goes on there. Focusing on the "pjs" and folks hanging out is completely dismissive of the majority of folks who live there.

Please take note of the Hudson Guild (http://hudsonguild.org/index.html), which is located (http://hudsonguild.org/contact.html) on the 400 block of West 26th Street between Ninth & Tenth. Oh, yeah -- that puts it right in the middle of the dreaded projects. It's been in the area doing good stuff for over 100 years -- and is far more representative of the neighborhood than "bro’s outside drinking 40’s, drug transactions, and prostitution".

And, by the way, what do the Nathan Strauss Houses on the East Side in your neighborhood have to do with what is going on in Chelsea? As we all know NYC is made of up neighborhoods which have their own identity and make-up. To cross generalize based on info about another "similar' neighborhood across town just doesn't make sense.

So, my point is that I'm standing up for Chelsea.

[brianac]

250 West Goes Both Ways as El-Ad Hammers Out Long-Winded Sale

by Dana Rubinstein (http://www.observer.com/2008/author/dana-rubinstein) | August 5, 2008

This article was published in the August 11, 2008, edition of The New York Observer.

http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/vertical/files/Breaks-1_250-West-St.jpg Property Shark
250 West Street.

There’s a lovely red brick building on the edge of Tribeca that, like a child of divorcing parents, hangs in the balance—belonging neither here, nor there, and utterly empty inside.

Plaza owner El-Ad Properties bought 250 West Street, a 98-year-old building 11 stories tall, from Citigroup in 2006 for $142 million. Bank workers have since emptied the building, bidding farewell to Robert De Niro’s largely residential fiefdom. And, in November, El-Ad went into contract to flip 250 West to an entity called Coalco for $201 million (a tidy 41 percent markup).

Here’s the funny thing. Now it’s August, more than eight months later, and Coalco has yet to close on the empty building. That’s a hell of a long haul. Boston Properties closed on the largest single-asset purchase in history—the $2.8 billion GM Building buy—in just two and a half weeks.

While Mikhail Kurnev, president of Coalco New York, would say only that eight months “is actually a pretty reasonable period of time,” and that he anticipated “closing in the next few months,” a broker who asked to remain anonymous said he’d heard Coalco was bargaining for a price reduction.

A source close to the negotiations suggested that Coalco is still searching for financing, which is remarkably scarce these days.

Either way, one thing’s for sure. El-Ad, the moneyed concern behind the Plaza Hotel condo conversions, is hedging its bets. Despite its contract with Coalco, the group is apparently continuing to market the building as both a residential conversion and as commercial space.

On its Web site, El-Ad calls 250 West Street its “next great achievement in residential conversions,” describing plans for “splendid, loft style residences accessed through private elevator vestibules, [and] the finest in building amenities and on-site parking.”

Meanwhile, on MrOfficeSpace.com—a commercial real estate listing resource—CBRE vice chairman Howard Fiddle is marketing the entire building as commercial space, at $59 a square foot on the 11th floor, and $55 on the first floor. The listing was last updated in July.

Why the conflicting listings? “Let’s say you get a great tenant,” explained the broker. “If the buyer doesn’t want to pay the whole price, El-Ad can pull out of its contract with Coalco and lease it instead.”

Mr. Fiddle did not return a request for comment. El-Ad declined to comment. But as the source familiar with the negotiations put it, all of this cross-listing is “the prudent thing to do,” particularly in this market.

“Sometime these things don’t sell.”

drubinstein@observer.com

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/250-west-goes-both-ways-el-ad-hammers-out-long-winded-sale

© 2008 Observer Media Group,

[brianac]

Stucco on the Rebound

By C. J. HUGHES (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=C. J. HUGHES&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=C. J. HUGHES&inline=nyt-per)
Published: August 15, 2008

ONE has only to walk around Manhattan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo) a little to know that stucco and other plaster finishes are generally not the materials of choice for new building facades.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/08/17/realestate/17post-650.jpg
STANDOUT IN GRAY A new condo, 215 East 81st Street, is flanked by different shades of brick.

To start with, the look has fallen out of fashion in the last few decades.

The prevalent use of stucco for the facades of large-scale shopping centers may have had something to do with that; it certainly ruined any charming association with Mediterranean islands. Another detraction was that synthetic stucco — often used in place of the traditional concrete compound — tended to leak and cause structural damage.

In New York City (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo) these days, however, stucco is edging back, according to developers, manufacturers and architects. Apparently there have been improvements in the synthetic formula, which consists of foam, adhesive and paint. But a bigger factor in the change has been the financial climate: stucco’s inexpensiveness makes a big difference to contracting budgets. Compared with glass, brick and limestone, the three most popular cladding materials in the recent boom, stucco is cheaper by more than half, experts said.

For example, if 215 East 81st Street, a new seven-story condominium built on a 1973 shell near Third Avenue, had been clad in limestone, the cost would have been $200 a square foot, said its developer, Ben Suky, a principal of Manhattan-based Livorno Properties. The synthetic stucco that Mr. Suky chose — known by the catchy name Exterior Insulation and Finish System, or EIFS — cost about $60 a square foot.

An additional asset was the material’s weight; because the 30-year-old building has a wooden frame, limestone might have been too heavy.

“Stucco was really just lighter material to hang on it,” Mr. Suky said.

The building’s 38 apartments, all one-bedroom duplexes, range from 560 square feet to 760 square feet, with slate bathroom floors and Viking stoves. Priced from $625,000 to $850,000, the units are about 65 percent sold since sales began in February, said Mr. Suky; move-ins are to be complete by October.

EIFS (rhymes with knifes) suffered a bad reputation in the 1990s, when its leaks resulted in rot and mold, not to mention lawsuits against its manufacturers.

In fact, some municipalities ultimately banned its use, which impelled the company to spend years improving the product so it drains moisture better, said Stephan E. Klamke, the executive director of the EIFS Industry Members Association.

Although New York currently allows the material, Mr. Klamke is working to get guidelines for its installation formally written into the city’s building code, which would facilitate its use and help avoid installation errors. That could happen as early as September, he said.

In the view of Sal Mattioli, the owner of Wall Systems Supply in Brooklyn (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/brooklyn/?inline=nyt-geo), which sells stone, brick and wood siding, EIFS was unfairly maligned.

“It was about installation problems more so than any product defects,” said Mr. Mattioli, adding that orders for EIFS had jumped 10 percent annually in last three years for New York residential projects.

But purists seem to prefer the traditional blend of stucco any day, because of its distinctive aesthetics.

Jon Handley, a principal of Pulltab Design in Manhattan, which recently completed a 200-square-foot stucco-walled East Village penthouse, likes the fact that traditional stucco slightly cracks over time, adding a patina.

“It existed in the seat of Western culture,” he said, alluding to ancient Greece and Rome, “so it’s got to be good.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/realestate/17post.html?ref=realestate

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Fabrizio]

Will someone fill me in here?

That photo... the building in that photo... are we supposed to be happy that stucco is making a comeback? Or pissed-off that stucco is making a comeback...

-----------

Undoubtably that condo will soon be featured here:

http://www.brickface.com/index.html

--

[lofter1]

This new-fangled stucco is applied over DRYVIT -- styrofoam slabs that are attached to the building and then covered with the stucco.

Visually it has no charm whatsoever.

It has the heft of a disposable coffee cup.

Knock on it and hear a dull hollow thud.

Punch it and leave behind a white divet.

It's the new version of vinyl siding.

[Fabrizio]

Pee on it and feel the satisfaction.

[lofter1]

I grew up in a stucco house. That old stuff with lime and cement would absorb a bit of moisture. And it would change color with time and get a patina of sorts.

Lots of this new stuff is filled with plasticized ingredients, so water rolls right off of it.

Undoubtedly that impenetrability is beneficial, but it also gives the surface a quality similar to molded plastic ala tupperware.

[Fabrizio]

Nothing says "New Jersey Italian-American contractor" like a good coat of plastic stucco.

[Derek2k3]

123 Third Avenue

http://oda-architecture.com/html/projects/1003/123-3rd.jpg
http://oda-architecture.com/html/projects/1003/1-txt.html

[lofter1]

The TEXT (http://oda-architecture.com/html/projects/1003/1-txt.html#) that accompanies that image ^ is beyond bizarre ...

123 3RD AVENUE -- 2007
NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Going on a hike is wonderful way to experience some of the
canyon’s rich natural beauty and immense size. However,
even if you are an avid hiker, hiking the Grand Canyon is
very different from most other hiking experiences.

Mental attitude and adequate water and food consumption
are absolutely essential to the success of any Grand
Canyon hike, particularly in summer. The day hiker and the
overnight backpacker must be equally prepared for the lack
of water, extreme heat and cold, and isolation
characteristic of the Grand Canyon.

[Front_Porch]

Am I stoned? I don't check this thread for, like, a week, and then somebody moves Third Avenue to Arizona.
:eek:

ali r.

[Derek2k3]

The area between Fifth & Lexington in the low 30's sure is hot. A permit has just been filed for a 28 story 366' foot building by the Stephen B. Jacobs Group.

45 East 33rd Street (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=110315267&passdocnumber=01)

A permit for a 21 story hotel has been filed on 30th Street, across from Sky House. Same architect as the terrible Bryant Park Hotel.

[antinimby]

About the Stephen Jacobs Group's 45 E 33 St...that's unfortunate because the current Workmen's Circle building built in 1923 is handsome and still in pristine condition.

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4625/45e33ey3.jpg

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/4029/45e33aqf7.jpg

Why don't they target the garbage buildings first? :mad:

[Derek2k3]

I used to work 2 blocks South of the Onyx location on 8th Ave and then up a bit on 30th and 8th. This stretch going up toward Penn Station was always one of the crappiest areas. Not only is it because of the low income housing (ie projects) across the street, but there is a methadone clinic just North, as well as some other public assistance agencies (not sure what kind though). I was surprised to see "luxury" condos going into this location. Similar to the shady folks who frequent just South of Port Authority on 8th, Penn Station also has its shiftier bunch who happen to also hang just South of the station on 8th Avenue. This area from 28th up to 31st has a long way to go and is far from luxury, a possible reason for their troubles.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2789978796_5c91b5cbf6_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2789128007_6e8f639cef_o.jpg

[lofter1]

That block on the right in the last pic above (east side of Eighth between 30th <> 31st) is one of the nastiest looking hodge podge of buildings around. Aside from the old charmer with the rounded bay on the southern end everything along the blockfront is a mosh pit of yellow, beige & red with balconies jutting out here and dryvit carved cornices up there. It appears to be a site somewhere between Tijuana and a suburb of Taipei.

[Derek2k3]

Loft 44
5 East 44th Street
22 stories 232 feet
Alan Ritchie of The Office of Philip Johnson
The Vintage Group
Residential Condominium
20 units 35,000 Sq. Ft.
Proposed


Loft 44, New York, New York
Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects
http://www.pjar.com/progress.html

http://www.pjar.com/images/portfolio_large/Loft44-1.jpg http://www.pjar.com/images/portfolio_large/Loft44-2.jpg

"The site is only twenty-seven feet wide, but by breaking the building’s width into 3’-0” bays, all interior walls and exterior detailing is designed to respect this simple module. "

Coming along nicely. Love the depth of the facade.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2790280737_7f7b1e5452_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2791129976_6a5a72a537_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3197/2791130134_92aa382885_o.jpg

[brianac]

Chelsea Enclave is a Fortress of Solitude, Condos

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, by Joey


http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3256/2821242263_0a12ae2442_o.png

http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3059/2822079864_04867e10fb_s.jpg (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=0)
http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3256/2821242263_19f8551623_s.jpg (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=1)
http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3242/2821242515_854f57dbd3_s.jpg (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=2)
http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3069/2821241259_4dbc1013ac_s.jpg (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=3)
http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3291/2822079048_90a4302eb7_s.jpg (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=4)
http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3143/2822079356_d569d31e3e_s.jpg (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=5)
http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3247/2821241509_540319875a_s.jpg (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=6)

Given all the competition (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/07/30/new_development_updateorama_west_chelsea_mega_edit ion.php) in the West Chelsea scene—in fact, we're working a new development about every two (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/08/05/west_chelsea_avoids_a_poon_but_look_whats_coming_s oon.php) weeks (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/08/15/development_du_jour_art_at_540_west_28th.php)—buil dings tend to announce themselves with a bang. Not so in this case, where a project called Chelsea Enclave has mostly flown under the radar. It came to our attention when a tipster alerted us to a sales office being prepped on Tenth Avenue and 22nd Street. More digging turned up the teaser website (http://chelseaenclave.com/), featuring the verdant renderings you see above. The address is 177 Ninth Avenue (between 20th and 21st Streets), which used to a harbor a four-story church building. Now, the property is a construction pit wrapped in plywood. The property is landmarked, and so the isolated inner landscaped areas—more Maine than Manhattan, no?—are dotted by older buildings that were/are part of the General Theological Seminary. If someone could enlighten us as to the status of religion's role in this little miracle, it would be appreciated.

The project will be marketed by Corcoran Sunshine, and according to a source, the full reveal will not be until the offering plan gets approved and the sales office opens in mid-September. According to a DOB new building permit (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=2&passjobnumber=104276560&passdocnumber=01), the new Ninth Avenue structure will be seven floors and have 54 units. A name that appears on the permit is Enzo Depol, of architecture firm SLCE (http://www.slcearch.com/). The permit was issued in late July, and the owner is listed as Chelsea West 21st Street LLC, with a dude named Mark Green as the owners' rep. We're looking forward to this one, if only to see how quiet meditation sells in a land where the High Line and all of its surrounding craziness is the amenity du jour.

· Chelsea Enclave (http://chelseaenclave.com/) [chelseaenclave.com]

UPDATE: Ah, we knew we'd heard this song before. Per a commenter, this is—obvs—the end result of the lengthy Chelsea Seminary capital-raising controversy. Certainly looks different than it did in 2005 (http://curbed.com/archives/2005/11/28/chelsea_seminary_plan_update_tower_of_babel.php) and 2007 (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/04/03/chelsea_seminary_caves_again_prays_seven_stories_w ill_fly.php). The lessons, as always: Not even the good lord can step in the way of Historic District height limit.

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/02/chelsea_enclave_is_a_fortress_of_solitude_condos.p hp?o=1

Copyright © 2008 Curbed

[Derek2k3]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09032008/news/regionalnews/tenant_pane_relief_127210.htm
NY Post

TENANT 'PANE' RELIEF
BLOCK CENTRAL PK. VIEW
By DAREH GREGORIAN and JOSH SAUL

Posted: 4:15 am
September 3, 2008

Wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling views of Central Park? Not in my apartment, sonny!

A group of elderly tenants has won a court order blocking their landlord from installing windows in their rent-stabilized Lincoln Square apartments - even though the windows would give them sweeping, much-coveted views of the park.

"I'm not terribly interested in looking at Central Park or the East Side," said Ned O'Gorman, one of the four tenants who turned up their nose at the offer.

The poet and his cronies had filed suit to stop their landlord, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, from ripping out the walls in their one-bedroom apartments and replacing them with windows.

"Plaintiffs argue that they would be severely and irreparably damaged by the removal of the wall and by the dust, fumes, noise and vibrations," Judge Michael Stallman wrote.

He signed off on their bid for a preliminary order barring the landlord from doing work on their apartments, finding the changes were purely cosmetic and not a "necessary repair."

The landlord's lawyer, Seth Denenberg, said the window installation between the 22nd and 37th floors was part of a massive rehab of 60 W. 66th St., designed to transform the tower into a "premium building."

When work is finally completed, the plaintiffs' four units - all on different floors - will be the only ones without the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The four tenants all said they had good reason to block the construction.

Abraham Cherney is 87 and gets kidney dialysis several times a week.

Former model and dancer Laima Drobavicius has severe allergies, and both said they would "suffer potentially life threatening health consequences" if forced to stay in their apartments during construction.

Donald Stone, 66, said the windows would cost him a wall that's "now covered by antiques, books and watercolors," and the construction and sunlight would "endanger his valuable belongings."

Denenberg said the quartet are all motivated by greed.

He said they spurned offers of $25,000 each to let the work go forward in their apartment, but said they'd let the work go forward for $100,000 each.

Tenant lawyer Gil Santamarina said, "We never asked for $100,000. We probably should have, but we didn't."

dareh.gregorian@nypost.com


http://www.prudentialelliman.com/NYCPhotos/buildings/de/1583.1.jpg

[NYC4Life]

Updated On 09/03/08 at 01:28PM

119th and Third opens for sales



http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/48477/119th_and_Third_articlebox.jpg (http://ny.therealdeal.com/assets/48477)
119th and Third


The 12-story luxury condominium at Third Avenue and 119th Street in Harlem is now open for sales. The 90-unit building, by developer 119 Third Avenue Associates LLC and designed by Barry Rice, has studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Prices are between $385,000 and $1.3 million, and amenities include parking, a full-time doorman, rooftop terrace, fitness center and storage. The sales office is located across the street from the condominium at 2181 Third Avenue. TRD

[NYC4Life]

Updated On 09/04/08 at 12:42PM

The 505 tops off in Hells Kitchen


http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/48573/505_articlebox.jpg (http://ny.therealdeal.com/assets/48573)
The 505


The 505 condominium, at 505 West 47th Street, is scheduled to top off today. Parkview Developers' seven-story building is 95 percent sold out, with the remaining units priced between $730,000 and $1.395 million. Many of the 109 units have private gardens and balconies. Amenities include a fitness center, rooftop garden, attended lobby, storage and courtyard. Halstead Development Marketing and Nest Seekers International are handling the marketing and sales, and completion is expected in summer 2009. TRD

[brianac]

September 2008 (http://beta.therealdeal.com/issues/101)

New penthouses: Adding value on the very top

Experts weigh in on how much rooftop additions add to the price of the building


http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/48205/adding_value_articlebox.jpg (http://beta.therealdeal.com/assets/48205)
A penthouse addition sits atop 704 Broadway, a 10-story building in Noho.


By Anne Wilner

The penthouse additions that have been constructed atop Manhattan buildings have not only created curious-looking skyboxes for wealthy homeowners; they have also changed the value of the buildings they sit on.

This month The Real Deal set out to find exactly how a penthouse addition changes a building's value. The experts consulted said penthouse additions can increase the value of both the entire building and individual apartment units.

"There's certainly potential for enhanced value," said Jonathan Miller, CEO of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel. "You're increasing visibility or market awareness of the building. You're enhancing the mix of apartments in the building. Also, when a co-op approves the penthouse addition, often you will see common areas upgraded as a condition for the renovation."

The city's Department of Buildings, which handles permits for construction and renovations, had 164 applications for penthouse additions in Manhattan in 2006 and 141 in 2007. As of late last month, the department had 112 applications to date for 2008, which puts it on pace to reach nearly 170 by the end of the year, besting 2006's and 2007's totals.


Costly propositions

Miller said that purchasing roof rights begins at 15 cents on the dollar per square foot compared to apartments in a given building, but added the cost could be "far higher." The price of the roof can increase to 40 or 50 cents on the dollar per square foot. Some pay even more.

"The more permanence you build into the structure, that ratio increases," Miller said. "But it's really market-driven. There are so many variables rolling around that there's no hard-and-fast rule."

Arpad Baksa, the architect for a rooftop addition at 477 Broome, said the structure does not make much of a difference in the value of a larger building.

But in a smaller building, he noted, "it definitely does."

Miller generally advises against building penthouse additions in an unusual style.

"The more people a property can appeal to, the greater the enhancement in value," he said. "That's the primary rule of thumb. If it's not neutral enough, that tends to have a limiting effect on value. The exception would be a world-renowned architect."

Real estate lawyer Allen Brill, a partner at real estate firm Brill & Misel, said the cost of constructing a luxury rooftop home can run from several hundred thousand dollars to several million.

However, he estimated that the value of an enclosed rooftop structure is twice that of an unenclosed area like a simple terrace.

Architect Kevin Kennon, whose designs were finalists in the World Trade Center competition, has been working on a condo project at 157 Hudson in Tribeca, purchased for $18 million in 2004.

According to Kennon, the project has been delayed because of refinancing issues, but is now scheduled for completion in early fall.

It will have 17 units at an average of 3,000 square feet, and two stories of high-end dwellings on top of the landmarked three-story building.

Kennon seemed confident that the rooftop structures will add value to the building. "Penthouses are always more valuable," said Kennon. "They tend to go at almost double the square-foot basis."

Jared Seligman, who was named the Corcoran Group's 2007 rookie of the year, noted that height regulations can be hard to navigate. But, he said, "Everyone's first question is, 'Can we buy the roof?'"

While negotiating for roof rights can be tricky, that hasn't stopped many New Yorkers from doing it. One thing those looking to build have going for them is the fact that their coveted add-ons can help lower the maintenance costs for other owners in the building because they can help raise cash for the building's board.

But sometimes the additions are precluded by zoning laws that prevent owners from establishing a permanent structure on the roof. In some of those cases, owners build "cabanas"— temporary structures on the roof — and co-op boards draft contracts so that the owner is bound to destroy the temporary structure if the penthouse is sold.

Marianne Hyde, one half of the husband-wife boutique architectural firm Zakrzewski + Hyde, said her firm has built or developed plans for 10 penthouse addition properties. One of their projects was the addition baseball star Mike Piazza plopped onto the apartment he bought in 2004 for a reported $4 million in Tribeca. He is now reportedly planning on selling it. According to Curbed, Jon Stewart lives on a separate floor in the same building.

"In New York, everyone likes a trophy apartment, and when you want the outdoor space, a lot of times you need to be on top," Seligman said.

http://beta.therealdeal.com/articles/new-penthouses-adding-value-on-the-very-top

© 2008 The Real Deal

[lofter1]

A fantasy of mine ^

[Fabrizio]

And I see myself suing you for water damage.

[lofter1]

I see my lawyer ruining you, leaving you bereft and on the streets (again).

[Derek2k3]

The Charles
1353-1355 First Avenue, between 72nd & 73rd Street
Ismael Leyva Architects (http://www.ilarch.com)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/2833522081_82a5b3364a_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3155/2833522079_cc4291142e_o.jpg

Permit here:
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=2&passjobnumber=110058384&passdocnumber=01

[NYC4Life]

Short tower (398 feet) but the glass facade makes up for the height. Overall, great residential building and fits well with 1st Avenue.

[brianac]

Updated On 09/08/08 at 02:57PM

UES gets new medical condominium


http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/48892/429_East_75th_Street_articlebox.JPG (http://ny.therealdeal.com/assets/48892)
429 East 75th Street


By Jovana Rizzo

A new medical condominium has come to the Upper East Side.

Developers Taconic Investment Partners and ABR Partners' 30,000-square foot-building at 429 East 75th Street, between First and York avenues, is offering seven full-floor condos, including the basement, for doctors' private practices.

Three floors were added to the building, which was previously used as a garage, and it was topped off at six stories tall in August.

Hoping to attain LEED certification, the building is being renovated with an energy efficient heating and cooling system, and architects Murphy Burnham & Buttrick reused the original building materials and added green building materials, said Paul Wexler, president of Corcoran Wexler Healthcare Properties, the exclusive sales agent for the project.

Murphy Burnham & Buttrick also preserved the building's original 1930s Art Deco facade.

The seven units range from 2,200 to 5,700 square feet, with prices from $1,100 to $1,350 per square foot.

Wexler said none of the units have gone to contract yet, but an orthopedic surgeon, neurologist and radiologist have looked at spaces and are in the process of purchasing units. Each space will be constructed based on the doctors' specifications and needs, and the building will include two elevators, one large enough to fit a gurney, and a back-up power generator.

"I think most doctors prefer to own their own space," Wexler said. "Initially, it's an office, and later it can become a real estate investment. Moving forward, you can rent out portions or the entire space to other doctors."

Wexler said the benefits of creating the building as a medical community on the Upper East Side is that the doctors can refer patients to one another, and they will be in close proximity to several hospitals, including Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Lenox Hill Hospital.

The building will be ready for move-in by the end of the year.

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/ues-gets-new-medical-condominium

© 2008 The Real Deal

[brianac]

City Meets Resistance Over New Housing Plan on NYCHA Land


by Eliot Brown (http://www.observer.com/2007/author/eliot-brown) | September 15, 2008

http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/article/files/harborview.JPG HPD.
Proposed new mixed-income development on the West Side.


In late 2006, the Bloomberg administration announced an initiative (http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2006/pr-12-07-06-2.shtml) to build new housing on the underutilized land (parking lots and such) of select city public housing projects. Vacant, publicly owned land is now in short supply, the city reasoned. So officials began to look to the NYCHA housing projects as a city-owned resource where space was aplenty, given the "tower in the park" construction that typified the apartment complexes, with large expanses of open space and sometimes parking lots.

Now, seeking to implement the plan in Hell's Kitchen, the city is clashing with the community and elected officials, who claim the city reneged on a promise to build middle- and moderate-income housing.

At NYCHA's Harborview Terrace housing project on West 55th Street, the city has selected Atlantic Development to build two buildings with a total of 342 apartments, with 148 low-income units, 72 middle- and moderate-rate, and 122 market-rate, according to numbers presented to the community board. The project first went before the City Planning Commission last week and is being reviewed.

But members of the community board and elected officials point to a city commitment to build moderate- and middle-income housing as part of the 2005 Hudson Yards rezoning, and they point to a pledge to use publicly owned sites including Harborview for that purpose. The new development at Harborview, the community board says, was supposed to be a mix of housing, with the majority being moderate- and middle-income.

Many incentives built into the rezoning create low-income units as part of larger new apartment buildings, but new middle-income units are in relatively short supply, the community says. Thus the community board says the project needs far more middle-income units, perhaps with more city subsidy if needed (the community board wrote a letter that was critical of the project (http://www.manhattancb4.org/agendas/2008_06/17%20CHKLU%20HHHS%20Harborview%20ULURP%20-final.pdf) earlier this summer).

"The market is producing low-income, using the 80/20 program," said Anna Levin, land-use co-chair of Community Board 4. "We want this to be an economically mixed community. We need levels of affordability for moderate- and middle-income people as well, because there are no tools to motivate the development [of that type of housing]."

Local Council Member Gale Brewer is backing the community board, and given that the project needs City Council approval, its fate is uncertain.
"I support the community board," Ms. Brewer said. "We always thought we would have middle-income housing, and maybe some low-income, and very little market [-rate].This is a great deal of market housing."

Seth Donlin, a spokesman for the city's department of Housing Preservation and Development, said the breakdown of units by income at Harborview reflects a need for the project to be financially feasible. (Low-income units tend to be easier to finance and incentivize given an array of government programs, whereas middle-income units tend to require more city subsidy.)

Further, Mr. Donlin said, the pledge to build moderate- and middle-income units is district wide, not specific to this site.

"The agreement was not made project by project--the agreement was made for the area that was rezoned," he said.

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/city-meets-resistance-plan-build-new-housing-nycha-land

© 2008 Observer Media Group

[Tectonic]

Crain's


As bonuses dry up, so could condo sales

The latest crisis on Wall Street could deal a severe blow to apartment prices in Manhattan.

Elisabeth Butler Cordova (http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/personalia?ID=17)
http://imagec10.247realmedia.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/default/empty.gif (http://oascentral.crainsnewyork.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.crainsny.com/news/real_estate_residential/1150151796/Left1/default/empty.gif/474c384a713069626477494144474641?x)
As Wall Street’s financial crisis deepened, real estate insiders on Monday predicted that Manhattan’s residential market could be dealt a severe blow.

Investment brokers and their million-dollar year-end bonuses helped sustain apartment prices in the borough over the past few years, even as the rest of the country endured double-digit price declines. However, now that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is headed for liquidation and Merrill Lynch & Co. has been sold to Bank of America Corp., much of that bonus money is uncertain. Many of Lehman’s high-paid employees have already started packing up their desks, and Merrill Lynch will not retain all of its workers.

“Bonuses will be much smaller and the layoffs will continue,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel Inc. “The extent of this problem is mind-boggling.”

Right now, Manhattan is the most vulnerable in the city, said Mr. Miller, whose most recent quarterly report indicated sluggish pricing and a slide in the number of apartment sales. The average apartment price hit $1.7 million during the second quarter, down 3% from the first quarter of 2008. The number of sales dropped 22% to 2,282 during the quarter, compared with the year-ago period, while inventory surged 31% to 6,194 units.

“It (Wall Street) is one of our key economic engines in the city, both for our tax base and demand for residential real estate,” Mr. Miller said. “The ’09 market, and possibly 2010, are going to be characterized by lower volume and some weakness in price levels.”

News of the Wall Street turmoil will likely scare buyers away, at least temporarily.

“People who may have been on the fence are more likely to stay there now,” said Gregory Heym, chief economist at real estate firm Halstead Property. “It’s an uneasy time for people right now.”

Despite the negative implications spewing from Wall Street, there may be a couple of silver linings. First, the worst may be over. “Investment brokers have been releasing bad news in dribs and drabs,” Mr. Miller said. “This is the first step in getting this behind us.”

Second, the city would likely weather a residential turndown well because it doesn’t have a lot of inventory.

“We don’t have the supply problem that other areas have,” Mr. Heym said. Markets such as Washington, D.C., and Miami, which have years’ worth of speculative build-outs sitting vacant, have much higher inventory levels than New York City.

[KenNYC]

Bargain time ;)

[Front_Porch]

Bargain time? Yes and no. We are seeing a little more negotiability on prices -- and the silver lining of Wall Street's troubles is that interest rates are good.

However, we are seeing a wide spectrum of loan rates depending on how many contracts or closings are in the building, so buyers in buildings that have been selling slowly may find that even though they get a decent price, their monthly payments will be higher than the expected.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[krulltime]

This one looks very promising. Any idea where the exact location for this one will be at? I assume is somewhere on the East Side.

http://www.pbase.com/image/103264194.jpg

http://www.pjar.com/progress.html

[londonlawyer]

That is awesome. It's on the site of the Potampkin garage on York. Therefore, it would be visible on the East River skyline.

Unfortunately, there's no activity on the DOB's website for this parcel, 1133 York Ave.

[krulltime]

Ahh, now I can picture the location. 61st and York Ave. I though there was another rendering for this site floating around. I hope this is the one they choose.

[londonlawyer]

Ahh, now I can picture the location. 61st and York Ave. I though there was another rendering for this site floating around. I hope this is the one they choose.

I spotted it immediately because I used to live on York. You can tell by the unique and ugly building just to the west of this site.

I think the other rendering you're speaking about is for Solow's site across the street from this which also is on the site of a former garage. Hopefully, the horrible Bently Hotel and gas station on the east side of York will be redevloped too and the crappy animal hospital.

[krulltime]

Yeah this is the one. :( Oh well, I am sure this one will be chosen in the end.

http://easternconsolidated.com/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/pictures/617__pic&w=412

http://easternconsolidated.com/listingdetail.php?listing_id=617

[londonlawyer]

I was unaware of that rendering. You're correct. That one and the Phillip Johnson one appear to be for the same site.

[krulltime]

Here is a new rendering for the Church of Epiphany (1393 York Ave/74th Street). Although I am not aware of any news about this project.

http://www.pbase.com/image/103268145.jpg http://www.pbase.com/image/103268143.jpg http://www.pbase.com/image/103268148.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/103268151.jpg http://www.pbase.com/image/103268150.jpg

http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/

[lofter1]

Oooops -- I now see that STERN (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=252341&postcount=20) beat me to this comparison in another thread ...

***

This is a knock-off (in glass) of Philip Johnson's first proposal (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=64516&postcount=10) for the Urban Glass House site down in Hudson Square ...


I was unaware of that rendering. You're correct. That one and the Phillip Johnson one appear to be for the same site.


This one looks very promising. Any idea where the exact location for this one will be at? I assume is somewhere on the East Side.

http://www.pbase.com/image/103264194.jpg

http://www.pjar.com/progress.html


Here's a comparison of the two versions:

..... BRICK: http://www.pjar.com/images/portfolio_large/328_color_rendering_l.jpg..... GLASS: http://www.pbase.com/image/103264194.jpg

[Derek2k3]

http://www.pbase.com/image/103264194.jpg

http://www.pjar.com/progress.html

I guess it's okay. The brick version wouldn't be that great on York Ave anyway. Still far better than SLCE's filing cabinet design.

I remember when the rendering for The Seasons was released revealing that the building would be brick rather than the glass the massing models alluded to.
Many foumers were disappointed. Now, after all the glass towers, we've made a 180.




The developer of the project hoped to get the tower built on another site. Here's an old article.


http://www.theslatinreport.com/top_story.jsp?StoryName=1128jgh.txt

NYC 11 28 05
URBAN GLASS HOUSE: HALF FULL?
Anna Holtzman

Philip Johnson is gone, but not forgotten. A slick sales campaign by real estate marketing firm The Sunshine Group tells us that the Urban Glass House, a vestige of the final projects designed by the late, renowned architect, is rising as we speak in a fast-changing urban industrial outpost at the western edge of SoHo and just north of Tribeca.

The neat marketing package belies a convoluted backstory: First, this isn’t the building Johnson intended as his last legacy (in fact, it is more of a tribute design than one of his own.) Second, the man who dreamed up the project and hired Johnson’s firm-restaurateur-turned-developer Nino Vendome, who after 9/11 turned his nearby restaurant into a home-away-from-home for thousands of rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero-has all but vanished from the project as well.

Interwoven into the mixed-up tale of Johnson’s legacy is the story of this morphing neighborhood. Vendome’s initial vision opened the doors for a suite of high rise residential projects that ultimately beat him at his own race to set the tone for the neighborhood’s future, and actually set the stage for the rezoning three years ago of the 19th-century industrial district for residential use.

It all began in 1999, when Vendome selected Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects’ envelope-pushing design for a residential tower at Spring and Washington Streets, a site that Vendome had pieced together parcel by parcel over several years. At 26 stories, the project, known then as the Habitable Sculpture, defiantly broke all of the neighborhood’s rules: Not only did it challenge the industrial zoning and the aesthetic of its historic surroundings-the scheme resembled a fistful of towers spliced together, with different facades sticking out at various angles-but, reports Community Board 2 zoning committee chair David Reck, the building’s floor area ratio (FAR) of 17.4 was way above the zoning allowance of 5.

“Everyone loved the building,” Ritchie told The Slatin Report. “We got glowing reports from [then-New York Times architecture critic Herbert] Muschamp and the architectural community.” But Reck and the community board couldn't see past the current zoning, though he concurred that, “The design was really something to look at.” It's axiomatic that community boards dread change, and this one fit the mold. The board feared that making an allowance for Johnson's scheme would open the floodgates for other high rise developments.

They were right: Around the time that Vendome’s proposal was turned down by the city's Board of Standards and Appeals in early 2003, the city had rezoned the neighborhood, and a fleet of new residential developments followed-including Metropolitan Housing Partners’ 505 Greenwich Street, designed by architect Gary Handel and Associates, and developer Jonathon Carroll’s Greenwich Street Project, whose undulating curtain wall is the work of architect Winka Dubbeldam.

Undeterred, Vendome asked Johnson and Ritchie to go back to the drawing board and come up with a design that fit the new 6.02 FAR requirement. Instead of stunting the original opus, Ritchie proposed an entirely new concept-a tribute to Johnson's 1949 Glass House in New Canaan, Conn., one of Johnson's most celebrated works. The resulting “Urban Glass House” is the comparatively squat curtain wall structure now rising at 330 Spring Street.

Although he professes pride in the new design, Ritchie confessed to The Slatin Report, “I feel upset, because we were the trailblazers for how this neighborhood could be developed, and our design offered a contextual feeling for the area, using brick and other historical elements.” Instead, he said, the tone has been set by projects that paid little attention to context.

For Vendome, though, it was too little, too late. In 2004, says Ritchie, after the Urban Glass House had been approved by the Dept. of City Planning and local community groups, Vendome still yearned to build the original Habitable Sculpture, on another site. He sold the Spring Street site with the Johnson Ritchie design to Glass House Development, LLC, a consortium of developers, comprised of Charles Blaichman, Scott Sabbagh, and Abraham Schnay. They hired architect Annabelle Selldorf to design the interiors for the residential units.

Despite persisting resistance from the community, the building’s superstructure is already up, with the first unit slated for completion in June 2006. And further development in the area is inevitable-according to Schnay, there are three other nearby projects in the works. “Give it five more years,” says Reck, “and it’ll be a completely different area.”

Had they known that change was coming, some locals may have preferred the Habitable Sculpture to its replacement. “The current design is a compromise," Rip Hayman, who since 1979 has owned the James Brown House, an early 19th century landmark adjacent to the Glass House site and the home of a famed local tavern, the Ear Inn, told The Slatin Report. "I thought [the original design] was fantastic.” Hayman asserted that he and other longtime residents of the area have always wanted the neighborhood to become residential; he believes that the rezoning will bring benefits such as residential services to the area. “The problem,” he says, “is that it’s become [one of] the most expensive neighborhood in the city, and that’s squeezing out older renters.”

And in this neighborhood, it doesn’t look like the real estate bubble’s about to burst anytime soon. According to Schnay, 25 percent of the Urban Glass House units-priced from $1,140/square foot to $2,325/square foot-have already sold. And he reports that the majority of those interested in the 4,300-square-foot penthouse want to combine it with additional units below. Cindy Saxman, a mortgage broker with Guilford Funding, said of the area in general, “People are buying-I don’t think you’ve seen the end of the boom yet.”

Nino Vendome still hopes to erect his Habitable Sculpture on another site at some point in the future, but he hasn't given up entirely on this site's potential: Vendome retains the ground floor commercial space at the Urban Glass House, where he has asked Ritchie to design an Italian restaurant for him. Said Hayman, “It’s getting to be like Garlic Row here with all the restaurants-the more restaurants you have, the better.” He added wistfully, “Vendome was the one with the vision, but not the real estate experience.”


It doesn't seem like this one will have all intricacies of the previous design either.

[Derek2k3]

http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/

There are several new projects on the TEN website, everyone should take a look.

As for the Church of Epiphany site, I don't think they are the winners. The NB permit says the architects are Thomas Phifer & Partners. I'm enlightened that the church demanded the developer build iconic tower and held a competition. If only more sellers demanded this.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=110142630&passdocnumber=01

[meesalikeu]

the chelsea enclave aka 177 ninth avenue has a foundation. this is the new apt building that is part of the general theological seminary property. the pics are from 10/5/08:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/meesalikeu2/number%20one/729cb004.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/meesalikeu2/number%20one/97dea260.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/meesalikeu2/number%20one/bd042578.jpg

[brianac]

07 October 2008

Tin Pan Alley Threatened (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-threatened.html)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nswHPYi_dEw/SOwACdaYFuI/AAAAAAAAD3U/f2g_luZLmBg/s400/tinpan0003.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nswHPYi_dEw/SOwACdaYFuI/AAAAAAAAD3U/f2g_luZLmBg/s1600-h/tinpan0003.JPG)

A reader has alerted Lost City to a threat to five of the assortment of buildings along W. 28th Street which were once collectively known as Tin Pan Alley, the early-20th-century wellspring of much of America's musical heritage.

The five buildings at 47-49-51-53-55 West 28th Street has been put up for sale as a group. The Loopnet listing (http://www.loopnet.com/property/15654744/47-49-51-53-55-West-28th-St/) recommends that they be demolished, "yielding over 111,000 sf of Prime Chelsea property." The listing also provides a proposed architectural rendering of what might be built there instead (seen below). The usual thoughtless, anodyne, everyday pile of bricks. The cost to commit this crime: $44,000,000.

The listing has been up since September. One can only hope that, with the current economy, the seller doesn't have a chance in hell of making that price. Lost City has previously decried (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/search?q=tin+pan+alley) the fact that these buildings—once home to music publishers that fostered the talents of songwriters Gershwin, Berlin, Donaldson, Carmichael, Warren, Waller, Kahn, Cohan, Mercer, Youmans and dozens more—have been left to rot, with nothing marking their significance to American culture save a small plaque. They don't enjoy landmark status. No pocket museum or tourism bureau marks their presence. It's a positive shanda!

55 W. 28th Street was also, incidentally, the address of famed American socialist Emma Goldman's magazine Mother Earth. If only Goldman were around today. She's organize a hell of a protest against this sale.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nswHPYi_dEw/SOv_9OXPxjI/AAAAAAAAD3M/LYMxSRdKWC4/s400/7110C1E3-DAED-4A3B-AAEA-F3476C27AAF6.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nswHPYi_dEw/SOv_9OXPxjI/AAAAAAAAD3M/LYMxSRdKWC4/s1600-h/7110C1E3-DAED-4A3B-AAEA-F3476C27AAF6.jpg)


Posted by Brooks of Sheffield at 7.10.08 (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-threatened.html)

http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-threatened.html

[lofter1]

Sad to see that stretch knocked down.

However changes at 28th near Broadway could help to continue the rehabilitation of Broadway between 32nd and 26th (Herald Square to Madison Square Park). Those blocks are starting to see some changes, but they have a ways to go in order to return some of their former glory (which is apparent if you look up when strolling along there -- but don't look up for too long, or you'll undoubtedly trip over the wares of some street vendor).

[lofter1]

More on the changes proposed for Tin Pan Alley ...

Tin Pan Alley Residents Want $1 Million Each

CURBED (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/10/09/tin_pan_alley_residents_want_1_million_each.php)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
by Joey

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_10_tin.jpg

The music publishers may have departed the brownstones of Tin Pan Alley
in the 1950s, but the block's sad final song might only now be playing out.
Yesterday, Lost City (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-threatened.html) pointed to an online listing for five of the four-story
buildings on West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, a
package deal (http://www.loopnet.com/property/15654744/47-49-51-53-55-West-28th-St/) offered at $44 million complete with a rendering of a high-
rise tower that could be built in their place. Today, the Post does some
follow-up digging on the former hangout of George Gershwin and Irving
Berlin, and the properties—at 47-55 West 28th Street—and while specific
information wasn't available because of Yom Kippur, we're told the tenants
who live above the storefronts (they pay about $1,000/month each) can't
be evicted, and they claim they'll ask for a buyout of $1 million per
apartment to ditch the birthplace of American song. Well, maybe not all
of them. Said one, "This makes me sick. This whole neighborhood has
lost its uniqueness. It's just another symbol of what New York was and
what it will no longer be." So this could be a lengthy scrap, but rest
assured that when/if these buildings do find a buyer, our "The Day the
Music Died" headline will be ready.

· Tin Pan Alley's Sad Tune (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092008/news/regionalnews/tin_pan_alleys_sad_tune_132792.htm) [NYP]
· Tin Pan Alley Threatened (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-threatened.html) [Lost City]

***

TIN PAN ALLEY'S SAD TUNE

CITY'S MUSICAL HERITAGE UNDER $IEGE

NY POST (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092008/news/regionalnews/tin_pan_alleys_sad_tune_132792.htm)
By BRADEN KEIL, IRENE PLAGIANOS and ANDY GELLER
October 9, 2008

There's a blue note for Tin Pan Alley, the birthplace of American song.

Much to the dismay of tenants and preservationists, five of the buildings on West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue - a block that for 60 years was the heart of the songwriting industry - have gone up for sale.

The buildings, at 47, 49, 51, 53 and 55 West 28th Street, are being sold as a group for - hold on to your hat in these cacophonous economic times - a mere $44 million.

A listing on Loopnet, a real-estate Web site, recommends that the buildings be demolished, "yielding over 111,000 square feet of prime Chelsea property."

The listing includes an architectural rendering of - what else? - a high-rise.

The buildings were listed last month, but most people only found out about it yesterday, when items appeared on the Lost City and Curbed blogs.

"It's a very, very disturbing prospect," said Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council, a housing preservation group. "These buildings are incredibly significant to the development of New York City. They helped launch the careers of songwriters and musicians who are still popular today.

"The notion of Tin Pan Alley entered into our idea of New York and our idea of America. The buildings deserve to be protected."

Leland Bobbe, 59, a photographer who has lived at 51 W. 28th St. since 1975, echoed Bankoff's words.

"This makes me sick," he said. "This whole neighborhood has lost its uniqueness. It's just another symbol of what New York was and what it will no longer be."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092008/photos/new05.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:SLIDES.hotlink())
1905: One of the five historic brownstones
on West 28th Street in its heyday.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092008/photos/new05a.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:SLIDES.hotlink())
2008: The same Tin Pan Alley building today
is threatened by the wrecking ball.

From the 1890s to the 1950s, Tin Pan Alley was the place where music publishers and songwriters - including Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer - were concentrated.

The sale is being handled by Lois Thompson, of Coldwell Banker, who said she couldn't provide specifics because she was about to begin observing Yom Kippur.

"Catch me on Friday," she said.

Public records say the buildings are owned by Jo-Fra Properties, of Bayside, Queens.

The buildings are well-kept four-story brownstones that have stores on the first floor and apartments above. Tenants pay about $1,000 a month for 1,000 square feet. Residents at 51, 53 and 55 W. 28th St. said they hired a lawyer and had the zoning of the buildings changed from commercial to residential. Bobbe said this means the tenants can't be evicted and that the buyer will have to negotiate with them to get them to leave. They plan to ask for $1 million per apartment.

Copyright 2008 NYP Holdings, Inc.

***

47-49-51-53-55 West 28th St

LOOPNET (http://www.loopnet.com/property/15654744/47-49-51-53-55-West-28th-St/)

http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/7/B/6/xy_7B6AD89E-7E53-41A8-8A21-38C250294612__.jpg

http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/7/1/1/xy_7110C1E3-DAED-4A3B-AAEA-F3476C27AAF6__.jpg

[londonlawyer]

NY pisses me off. With all of the sh...it that we have, some creep is going to knock these gems down? It's BS.
http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_10_tin.jpg

[Derek2k3]

If this is the site I'm thinking about...

There is at least one large parking lot and a 1 story taxpayer inside the footprint shown above. I always envisioned that a developer would transfer the FAR from the low-rise midblock structures to the parking lots and build a taller tower.


The diagrams are just reccomendations from the seller. Hopefully, the buyer has enough sense not to follow it through.
The premature outcry from the public is a good thing, now the developers know where we stand before a proposal is drawn up.

However, I'm not sure if there are height limits here. If there are then kiss all these buildings goodbye.

[lofter1]

The site in question is on the eastern half of the block of W 28 between Broadway <> Sixth. That is what is shown on the massing study drawing (the entire block is not seen). All five buildings now have a newly-erected sidewalk shed in front of them.

At just about mid-block there is a ~ 12 story building circa 1910; it can be seen at the far right in the photo of the string of properties. There are also three other properties (41, 43 & 45 W 28) which sit just to the east of the group of five and which are not part of the development package (in the photo they are the lighter colored buildings at the far right). They would be situated just to the east of the "Public Plaza" which is shown on the massing study

A good portion of the eastern end of the block of W 28 is covered by a cruddy multi-story parking structure circa 1960s. A short tax-payer fills in the rest of the block to Broadway. Together they make for a likely development site.

Now as one walks along the southern side of W 28 on this block there are great views of the Empire State Building to the north. But it looks like those views from the street could soon disappear.

It's really a shame that this string of old gems are not protected. A much better scenario would be to keep the old ones all along the east end of the block all the way to Sixth (Numbers 41 - 59) and allow their unused FAR to be transferred. Build something big on the east end of the block where the parking structure now stands.

But alas that will probably not come to pass ...

[brianac]

Extell Plans 15-Story Apartment Building on West 20th

by Eliot Brown (http://www.observer.com/2007/author/eliot-brown)
October 13, 2008

http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/article/files/garybarnettnagle_1.jpg Michael Nagle.
Gary Barnett.

Gary Barnett's Extell Development Co. is seeking to build a 15-story apartment tower on West 20th Street, a planned project that will be heard by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission tomorrow.

The site, 19-25 West 20th Street, is in the Ladies' Mile Historic District, and any new construction would need consent of the commission. The new building would include a three-story addition to an existing garage on the site, according to the commission's agenda (http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/calendar/10_14_08.pdf), coupled with a new tower on an adjacent parking lot

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/extell-planning-15-story-apartment-building-w-20th-st

© 2008 Observer Media Group

[brianac]

^^^

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_10_19w20th.jpg[Photo via PropertyShark (http://propertyshark.com/)]

At tomorrow's Landmarks Preservation Commission public meeting, the gatekeepers may finally rule on the fate of Norman Foster's design for 980 Madison Avenue (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/05/14/lord_fosters_revenge_how_about_this_upper_east_sid e.php). But anyone who isn't Tom Wolfe may also be interested in an item on the undercard, slated for a scant 10 minutes of discussion at 10am. It's an application for 19-25 West 20th Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues), a parking garage and adjacent empty lot safely tucked in the Ladies' Mile Historic District. According to the LPC agenda, someone wants to build a 16-story building on the narrow lot, and connect that to a three-story addition on top of the garage, which was built in 1927. The Real Estate (http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/extell-planning-15-story-apartment-building-w-20th-st) says that the developer leading the charge here is Gary Barnett's prolific Extell. The company paid $28 million for the property last summer, and according to this disapproved DOB application (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?passjobnumber=110187912&passdocnumber=1) from June, Extell had architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle draw up plans for a residential building with 18 units. Given the garage hangover, this could end up looking very interesting...or it could end up like this (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/05/27/form_a_line_hells_kitchen_tetris_building_unveiled .php). Or, if the LPC wills it, it be nothing at all.

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/10/13/extell_wants_to_put_topping_on_20th_street_parking _garage.php

Copyright © 2008 Curbed

[brianac]

15 October 2008

Tin Pan Alley Crisis Now Has Its Own Website (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-crisis-now-has-its-own.html)


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nswHPYi_dEw/SPZr-Eb7EhI/AAAAAAAAFN4/8NeOdpZ3rQw/s400/tinpan0001.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nswHPYi_dEw/SPZr-Eb7EhI/AAAAAAAAFN4/8NeOdpZ3rQw/s1600-h/tinpan0001.JPG)
The Historic Districts Council has launched a website to draw attention to the plight of the imperiled row houses at 47, 49, 51, 53 and 55 West 28th Street, formerly home to much of what was Tin Pan Alley. You can find the site here (http://www.hdc.org/tinpanalley.htm). There's a petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/TPAlley/petition.html) you can sign in support of the preservation of the buildings.

Writes Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of HDC:

We have also been in touch with a tenant who informed us that the tenants recently won a court case which granted the current residents legal status (the buildings are zoned for commercial or manufacturing use). The current scaffolding has been erected so that the owners can do necessary repairs to the buildings (they are now required to bring the buildings up to code after decades of minimal maintenance). The immediate danger is that without appropriate oversight, the repairs could potentially damage or disfigure the historic facades of the buildings.

Additionally, HDC has been touch with the Landmarks Commission and alerted them to our concerns about the row. We understand that the agency has a file on them, and over the years, some requests for landmarking have been received. At the very least, in 2001, HDC recommended incorporating this row in the Madison Square North Historic District when it was being considered for designation. The next step is to raise public awareness of this significant row and get the agency to act.
Good work, HDC

http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-crisis-now-has-its-own.html

[brianac]

October 17, 2008, 9:20 am

Tin Pan Alley, Not So Pretty

By Jake Mooney (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/author/jake-mooney/) With its graffiti-covered storefronts, crumbling cornices and vendor-clogged sidewalks, the block of 28th Street between Avenue of the Americas and Broadway does not necessarily look like a place that would produce some of the catchiest melodies and most poetic lyrics of the last 120 years.

That was decades ago, in the first years of the 20th century, when the strip was part of the two-block stretch of music publishing companies known as Tin Pan Alley (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05EFDE103DF930A25754C0A9659C8B 63&scp=1&sq=tin%20pan%20alley%20christopher%20gray&st=cse). The interesting thing is, in spite of the pretty music the district produced, it wasn’t a pretty place then, either.

Five buildings on the street, Nos. 47, 49, 51, 53 and 55 West 28th Street, are up for sale (http://www.loopnet.com/property/15654744/47-49-51-53-55-West-28th-St/), it was reported (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-threatened.html) last (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/10/09/tin_pan_alley_residents_want_1_million_each.php) week (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092008/news/regionalnews/tin_pan_alleys_sad_tune_132792.htm), presumably to someone who would tear them down and build something taller. The news has drawn the ire of the buildings’ tenants, and of preservationists (http://www.hdc.org/tinpanalley.htm) who hope to secure city landmark status for the buildings, preventing such a demolition.

The block’s history is the subject of the Dispatches feature in this week’s City section (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/nyregion/thecity/19disp.html). Whatever else can be said about the Tin Pan Alley (http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/tinpanalley/tinpanalley.php) of the buildings’ heyday, it is remarkable that so much pleasant music could be written in such a harsh environment.

The way things worked then, said David Freeland, a music writer who devotes a section to Tin Pan Alley in a coming book, is that the companies, where songs were written, would compete to lure performers in to hear them played by house musicians called pluggers. The music companies had a symbiotic relationship with nearby theaters, along Broadway and Sixth Avenue, where the songs were performed, said Mr. Freeland, whose book, due out next year, is called “Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattan’s Lost Places of Leisure.”

At the time, he said, the theaters’ musicians needed material, and the song companies needed customers, so they grew together.

Similarly, he said, Harry Von Tilzer, a songwriter whose company was based at 42 West 28th Street, would occasionally try out new songs in the brothels that also populated the area.

It was a competitive time, Mr. Freeland said, adding: “That’s New York history, too. It was a place where people really struggled to make it, to make this place their own, to carve out an identity for themselves that was not really within the prevailing standards of respectability.”

Considering all that, “I always feel that Tin Pan Alley was so brilliant because in turning out this product that was suitable for men, women and children of all kinds, it obscured the actual origins of the songs,” he said. “Part of the reason Tin Pan Alley survived so well is that it actually hid its own origins within a family-friendly veneer.”

It is one way in which the music industry then resembled the music industry today. Indeed, Mr. Freeland said, the very idea of commodifying music, of categorizing it, marketing it and selling it, can in many ways — for good and ill — be traced back to West 28th Street (http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/28st.htm).

Among the good things that emerged from the district — besides songs like “In the Good Old Summertime,” “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” — were the careers of writers like Irving Berlin, Scott Joplin and George Gershwin, who worked as a teenage song plugger in a company at 45 West 28th Street.

Then, even after the publishing business began to move north, away from 28th Street, following theaters that had moved to the Times Square area, the name Tin Pan Alley survived, standing for an era and a style of music.

Jonathan Schwartz (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/schwartzsun/), the radio host (who is the son of the songwriter Arthur Schwartz), told me this week that there are good reasons why so many of the songs of these later years are still beloved.

“It’s the great passion of the music, the great beauty of the melodies,” he said. And the lyrics, he added, quoting a passage from Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern’s 1939 song “All the Things You Are”:

You are the promised kiss of springtime
That makes the lonely winter seem long.
You are the breathless hush of evening
That trembles on the brink of a lovely song.
You are the angel glow that lights a star,
The dearest things I know are what you are.
Some day my happy arms will hold you,
And some day I’ll know that moment divine,
When all the things you are, are mine!”
Song lyrics like these, today, are hard to find. Mr. Schwartz said many great songs have been written over the years since then, of course, but these kinds of pure rhymes are rarer.

“ ‘Home’ and ‘alone’ do not rhyme,” he said. “ ‘Home’ and ‘alone’ — that’s what we’ve come up with now.”

But that, in part, is why songs from the later songwriters (http://www.america.gov/st/arts-english/2008/July/20080818103820eaifas0.4545252.html)of the Tin Pan Alley era, people like Cole Porter, Jimmy Van Heusen, Richard Rogers, Dorothy Fields and Harold Arlen, are now considered beloved standards, Mr. Schwartz said.

“As we listen to Mozart and Beethoven and Bach and Haydn today,” he said, “so will the future world find great meaning and help — emotional help, as life is difficult — in the songs that I’m speaking of.”

The sharp elbows of 28th Street may have become gentler as the songwriters and the business moved away from 28th Street, by the way.

When they had all grown old, Mr. Schwartz said, Van Heusen, Arlen and Berlin used to stay in touch with regular long-distance telephone conversations.

“There was a great comradeship amongst the hierarchy,” he said. “They so much respected each other. I think the competition of the street was more with people who were writing less-than-top-rate songs.”

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/tin-pan-alley-was-never-very-pretty/

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[brianac]

Dispatches

The Fading Melodies of West 28th Street

By JAKE MOONEY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/jake_mooney/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: October 16, 2008

STAND for a minute on West 28th Street, east of Avenue of the Americas, and listen. The sounds on the street are of hawkers selling bootleg movies and knockoff perfumes, and trucks backing up and beeping steadily — the usual urban noise of South Midtown.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/17/nyregion/19disp300.jpgThe New York Times
The 1908 cover of the sheet music to Take Me out to the Ball Game by Albert Von Tilzer, published by the York Music Company of Tin Pan Alley 40 West 28th Street.

Near the middle of the block on Wednesday afternoon, sitting on a stoop in the shade of new scaffolding, a Korean man who owns a second-floor cellphone store recalled the street’s recent history. A decade ago, he said, it was home to a row of florists. A luxury apartment tower went up on the corner around that time, the delivery trucks started getting more parking tickets, and most of the florists moved away.

The man was sitting in front of No. 49, one of the buildings that once helped the block earn its reputation for a different kind of commerce, and a different kind of clangor. It was there, in 1893, that the music publisher M. Witmark & Sons set up shop, the writer David Freeland said, and soon, the ringing, tinkling sound of an army of pianos was echoing from windows all along the strip as other music companies opened. The sound, legend holds, earned the stretch of West 28th Street between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas the nickname Tin Pan Alley.

That was before the cellphone vendor’s time. “Never heard of it,” he said.
But Tin Pan Alley’s golden age, in which the careers of songwriting titans like George Gershwin (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/george_gershwin/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and Irving Berlin (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/irving_berlin/index.html?inline=nyt-per) began, has been back in the news this month, with the revelation that five of its buildings — 49 West 28th and four adjacent — are up for sale, presumably to a developer who will tear them down and build a tower.
•
Last week, as tenants and preservationists geared up for a fight, it was still possible to stand back, look up at the crumbling facades and picture their heyday, a time, historians remind us, when the march of commerce was as insistent as it is today.

“It was a wild place, because all of the publishers’ representatives used to hang out on the sidewalks to try to rope in the performers to hear the latest songs,” said Mr. Freeland, the author of a forthcoming book titled “Automats, Taxi Dances and Vaudeville,” about New York’s lost cultural places.

The environment of the gambling houses and brothels in a larger district that was known as the Tenderloin was aggressive, Mr. Freeland said, a place for go-getters. With all the publishers side by side, he added, “they probably had a relationship that bordered on the malevolent, because it was such a competitive business, and everyone was trying to get an edge. It was pretty intense.”

What emerged, in the height of industrialization at the beginning of the 20th century, was an environment in which songwriting was industrialized, too: Songs were written for categories — sentimental ballads, patriotic songs, comedic ones — and marketed, then shipped on sheet music to department stores. That, Mr. Freeland said, was a product of hardscrabble 28th Street — not that the listeners could tell.

The songs the street produced, and those later produced by writers who got their start there, live on today, on the radio, at weddings and — like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” — in the seventh-
inning stretch.

“The melodies are beautiful and the lyrics are literate and passionate and the rhymes are pure,” Jonathan Schwartz, the radio host and music historian, said of the songs that the street’s brightest lights would go on to produce. “It’s just spellbinding, it’s absolutely beautiful, and nothing like it has followed.”

The roots are there, improbably, on 28th Street. “Look at the second-story windows,” Mr. Freeland said. “You can see where songwriters toiled, knocking out these songs and hoping for a hit.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/nyregion/thecity/19disp.html?ref=thecity

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[ReelDeal]

Sheffield57 Yair Levy and Swig :

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10172008/news/regionalnews/mogul_busted_in_ice_folly_133997.htm

[Derek2k3]

I'm guessing this is the site with the glass 2 story bank facing the north side of Union Square Park. Though never built, it gives an idea of the size of building that will inevitably rise there.


NEIL M. DENARI ARCHITECTS
http://www.nmda-inc.com/index.php?/projects/union-square-lofts/

http://www.nmda-inc.com/files/gimgs/21_unions-fc-psp-mid-panel-01-800-x-600.jpg

http://www.nmda-inc.com/files/gimgs/21_unions-fc-psp-top-panel-01-800-x-300.jpg

http://www.nmda-inc.com/files/gimgs/21_unions-fc-psp-bottom-panel-01-800-x-600.jpg


NEW YORK
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2001-2002
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UNION SQUARE LOFTS

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>
For a 28 ft x 184ft site on the north side of New York’s Union Square, NMDA was commissioned by Richard Kusack and RKCR Development to design a 15 story building consisting of one living loft per floor with commercial lease space on the ground floor. The site, a block-through parcel, contains 5,210 sf. The client asked for an expressive yet economical building that would make a dramatic presence on one of New York’s most dynamic urban park’s. The local zoning laws demand a vertical street wall up to 125 ft high with a 1:2.5 slope above. A total of 40,000 square ft is allowed for development on the site. This FAR limits the building floor plates both in size and number and ultimately determines the strict massing of the building. The floor to floor heights are greater at the bottom to both allow for more sun penetration and to push the maximum number of units above the adjacent buildings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
The glass envelope works as a sun control skin and as an expressive surface. Each 6’x6’ panel (5x6 on the uppermost floors) of double glazing has a single graphic form that when rotated and flipped, creates a subtly changing pattern across the gentle accordion folded facades. Since the building may not have operable windows on the east and west sides of the building (due to the party wall condition), the air-tight sides must control the sun/temperature through a combination of opaque and clear portions of glass. The pattern is a ceramic frit with low iron glass

[brianac]

The Local: Tin Pan Alley Sounds Cautious Tune

by Lysandra Ohrstrom (http://www.observer.com/2007/author/lysandra-ohrstrom)
8:10 AM December 1, 2008

http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/article/files/tinpanalleyedenpictures.jpg edenpictures via flickr.

“Tin Pan Alley is gone,” Bob Dylan wrote in the jacket of his 1997 album Biograph (http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bobdylan/albums/album/112743/review/6212284/biograph). “I put an end to it.”

The neighborhood that was once the hub of the American music-publishing industry in the early 20th century has undergone many transformations since it became known as Tin Pan Alley. Between 1893 and 1910, nearly 20 music-publishing companies moved to West 28th Street, according to the Historic Districts Council (http://hdc.org/blog/2008/11/14/a-brief-ish-history-of-tin-pan-alley/). Over the years, they have been replaced by furriers, florists and, lately, mass-market wholesalers, but the five-story, 1852 rowhouses at 49-51 still exist in much the same condition today as when the first songwriters, M. Whitmark and Sons, first moved there.

In October, however, it looked like the last remnants of Tin Pan Alley could be demolished to make way for a condo, when the Lost City (http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/tin-pan-alley-threatened.html) blog broke the news that all five buildings were on the market for $44 million.

As public opinion moves further against the plan and the economy plunges deeper into recession, a deal is looking increasingly unlikely. The five, mixed-use contiguous properties would yield over 111,000-square feet of “prime Chelsea Property” after demolition, according to the listing that first appeared on the real estate Web site LoopNet (http://www.loopnet.com/property/15654744/47-49-51-53-55-West-28th-St/) in the early fall, along with renderings of a 16-story residential building with 24 retail spaces proposed for the site. Though it remains up, the site says the “property is no longer available.”

Whether the buildings' owner Jo-Fra Properties bowed to public pressure or to the limitations of the credit markets is unclear, but the buildings no longer seem to be on the market, at least officially. As of Sunday, the HDC had amassed 414 signatures on its petition to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to put the Tin Pan Alley buildings on track for landmark status and, earlier this month, a LPC spokeswoman said the commission was “researching the history of the buildings and reviewing whether they'd be eligible for landmark designation.”
(http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Not-for-Sale-New-Yorkers-Try-to-Save-Historic-Tin-Pan-Alley.html)
The Coldwell Banker (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092008/news/regionalnews/tin_pan_alleys_sad_tune_132792.htm) agent marketing the buildings did not respond to a request for comment, and Jo-Fra Properties could not be reached.

Simeon Bankoff, director of the HDC, was unsure whether the buildings were still for sale. Regardless, he said they are still “very much under threat."
“When we last had contact with [brokers at] Coldwell Banker and Helmsley-Spear in mid-October, we got contradictory information,” Mr. Bankoff said. “The buildings still need work and we would feel much more comfortable with the LPC overseeing that work.”

Most Tin Pan Alley tenants and neighboring business owners on 28th Street have heard rumors about the sale, but they believe that a low appetite for real estate should keep developers at bay for the time being.

One ground-floor retail tenant of one of the buildings said existing apartment tenants are one of the biggest obstacles for potential investors.

“The problem is whoever is going to buy it has to deal with the rent-stabilized tenants," he said, but did not want to risk his relationship with his landlord by having his name published. “If you want them out to raze the building and put up a luxury apartment you have to buy them out and they all want a lot of money. It’s time-consuming. That’s a trial, that’s long litigation. So whoever buys the building buys it with that in mind.”

Meanwhile, Jo-Fra has to meet its obligations to the tenants of 51, 53 and 55 West 28th Street who won a suit to get their homes zoned for residential usage in August 2007 (http://tenant.net/Court/Hcourt/index.html?x=1653), according to one of the tenants involved in the case, Leland Bobbe. Though he had not been surprised to learn the buildings were up for sale, he expected it to be a “long process.”

Mr. Bobbe pays less than $1,000 per month for the 1,000-square-foot apartment he has lived in since 1975—when he first arrived his rent was just $160. The landlords have begun work to bring 55 West 28th Street up to code, Mr. Bobbe said, but plans have yet to be approved for the six other units slated for renovations under the case. Before a potential buyer can even submit a demolition application, all the apartments need to be brought up to code and then the tenants need to be offered new two-year leases. “So it’s going to be a while, at least five or six years [until the demolition becomes a possibility]. Plus, now the buildings come with tenants,” Mr. Bobbe said. “So the value of the buildings is lower ‘cause they would have to buy us out. I don’t think it’s imminent.


“It kind of got people going because of the history, but they are asking $44 million in a lousy economy. I can’t imagine anyone outside a Shah from the Middle East or some Japanese businessman would buy the building for that.”

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/local-tin-pan-alley


© 2008 Observer Media Group

[londonlawyer]

Great news! Hopefully, Tierney the putz will landmark these before the next boom.

[antinimby]

316 Eleventh Ave. from a couple of days ago.

http://www.douglastondevelopment.com/projects/current/img/316eleventh.jpg


From the east along W 30 St...

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6459/img0298bs0.jpg

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/8523/img0299st4.jpg

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/3213/img0301et5.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/6381/img0302pv5.jpg

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/1258/img0305og1.jpg

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/9168/img0306xq5.jpg

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/379/img0308wf5.jpg

[lofter1]

This one ^ is about as badly situated for access via public tranpsoration as any new construction in all of Manhattan.

It's positioned to feed off of Hudson Yards, but buildings there won't be going up anytime soon, and certainly won't be completed within 5 years of when this new dorm / multi-family building will be looking for tenants.

A few other big projects just to the south along W 28th (See: ART+ ) are languishing.

At least this all points to the possibility of some good deals for folks who don't mind a 20 minute walk home from the Eighth Avenue subway. Grocery shopping will be a true adventure.

[lofter1]

btw: 316 Eleventh Avenue has it's own thread (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17606) (with a very lonely single post from last April).

[Tectonic]

At least this all points to the possibility of some good deals for folks who don't mind a 20 minute walk home from the Eighth Avenue subway. Grocery shopping will be a true adventure.

Agreed. Possibility.

[antinimby]

There's a NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/nyregion/27developers.html) today talking about the building boom coming to an end due to the economy and in it, there's a brief mention of a new project on 87 and Broadway on the UWS.

Anyone know anything else about it?


That doesn’t mean that all construction in New York will grind to a halt immediately. Mr. Guberman is moving forward with one condo tower at 87th Street and Broadway that awaits approval for a loan; he expects it will attract buyers even in a slowing economy.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

[BrooklynRider]

Fitch Boosts Rating on NY Housing Bonds
By Paul Bubny

NEW YORK CITY-Fitch Ratings is upgrading its long-term rating on two series of New York State Housing Finance Agency bonds from A+ to AA+, based on a standby letter of credit from Bank of America. The higher rating, for HFA’s 2003 series L and M refunding service contract revenue bonds, is effective Jan. 14. Fitch is also assigning a short-term rating of F1+ based on the LOC.

According to a release, a total of $177.5 million of series L and M bonds are outstanding, including just under $63.8 million of sub-series M-1 and $25 million of sub-series M-2. Fitch says that in addition to the BofA LOC, other factors prompting its rating actions include conversion of the interest rate on the bonds from an auction-rate mode to a weekly rate mode and HFA’s reoffering of the bonds in a weekly rate mode.

The rating will expire upon Jan. 14, 2012, the stated expiration date of the LOC, unless the date is extended; any prior termination of the LOC; or defeasance of the bonds, whichever comes first. The LOC provides full coverage of principal plus an amount equal to 56 days’ interest at a maximum rate of 12%, based on a 365-day year and purchase price for tendered bonds, according to Fitch. The remarketing agent for the series L and sub-series M-1 bonds is Citigroup Global Markets, while Ramirez & Co. is the remarketing agent for the sub-series M-2 bonds.

Earlier this month, HFA issued an RFP to enable local governments, nonprofits and other providers to apply for $64.5 million in state and federal funds to buy, renovate and then resell or rent foreclosed and abandoned multifamily properties. The funds, provided under the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, are aimed at helping neighborhoods most affected by the foreclosure and subprime crisis.

According to a release from HFA, it’s expected that most of the NSP funds will be used to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed and abandoned residential properties, as well as to redevelop vacant sites. Although a limited portion of the funds will be used for demolition and to create local land banks, these uses must be part of comprehensive plans for revitalization or redevelopment of the sites for affordable housing, according to HFA.

Under federal guidelines, priority will be given to areas with the greatest percentage of home foreclosures, areas with the highest percentage of homes financed with subprime mortgages, areas with the greatest amount of vacant homes and areas likely to face a significant increase in the rate of home foreclosures, the release states. HFA says proposals to purchase and renovate multifamily properties through this program must meet a number of criteria, including a strategy for neighborhood stabilization and demonstrated experience in supervising and administering block grant programs. Green building and energy efficiency measures are also on the agenda.

New York City has been allocated up to $5.3 million through the NSP. Among counties in the New York City metro area, allocations are as follows: Nassau County has a cap of approximately $1.7 million; Suffolk County, $3.5 million, Westchester County, $4.6 million, Rockland Clounty, $1.3 million; Dutchess County, $2.1 million; and Orange County, $1.1 million. Upstate counties are in line for at least $250,000 each; in the case of Erie County, where Buffalo is located, the allocation is $3.8 million.

More than $54.5 million will come from federal funds authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which Congress passed last July. Another $10 million in state funds will be made available by the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation, an HFA subsidiary. HFA is overseeing the distribution of NSP funds in New York State.

In the release, Priscilla Almodovar, president and CEO of HFA and AHC, says the program reinforces Gov. David Paterson’s goal of “utilizing our scarce resources as efficiently as possible during these difficult economic times.” Proposals must be submitted to HFA by Feb. 10, 2009.

Copyright © 2009 ALM Properties, Inc.

[krulltime]

Never mind. Found the thread.

[canyb77]

For those interested in how the market is trending, Corcoran and PropertyShark.com release their Q408 Manhattan Residential Sales Report and it is available for free download at http://propertyshark.com/mason/nyc/home_buyer_resources.html (http://propertyshark.com/mason/nyc/home_buyer_resources.html?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=0109hbny)

They break out new Manhattan Residential Development units from other sales. Here are some excerpts:

"New development continued to exhibit strong price growth in the Fourth Quarter. However, as many of these sales were for contracts signed several months or even years ago, price changes are not necessarily indicative of the current market. The average price per square foot increased 9% over a year ago to nearly $1,400 per square foot. Median and average price experienced even greater increases of 33% and 29%, respectively. This large increase in absolute price was due to a shift in the proportion of units sold towards larger and more expensive residences. One bedroom residences in new developments actually saw a slight decline in median price, while all other unit types experienced double-digit increases. However, the new development market experienced a decline of almost 50% in the number of sales."

[infoshare]

For those interested in how the market is trending,

Other news on market conditions: excerpt - "Co-op and condo values dipped just 1.1 percent, but owners face an average tax hike of $439 and condo owners are staring at another $636 on their bills."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162009/news/regionalnews/a_pain_in_the_assess_150418.htm

[krulltime]

So what is this building going up on Ludlow? The Lower East Side?


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/3216723692_286bca9eff_o.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/severalseconds/3216723692/in/pool-curbed/

[Derek2k3]

Here's the Chelsea Enclave (General Seminary Tower), I think it was almost topped out when I passed by a few days ago.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3478/3237536147_2742691a89_o.jpg
Red Square Architectural Visualization
http://redsq.us/

Larger and other renderings at website.

[Tectonic]

Here's 1055 Park Avenue

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3487/3249492912_ff17bfaea0_b.jpg

[avngingandbright]

What did 1055 Park replace?

[avngingandbright]

You know, I thought Manhattan had a certain standard of construction, which I was shown was lower than previously imagined with the work of people like Chang and Poon, I was surprised when I was walking on 46th street, between 2nd and 3rd yesterday.

On the south side of the street, I kid you not, is a recently finished building sided with what is either vinyl siding or wood. I am not joking. Has anyone seen this? Given, it was built on the parking entrance of a large apartment tower, but it's really, really, REALLY bad, compared to things I've seen in Astoria, even.

[lofter1]

It might be molded metal paneling, which is used everywhere these days -- it's even OK'd in Historic Districts as a stand in for Cast Iron, even though it has the thickness and strength of cardboard.

Builders love it: It's relatively cheap and succeeds in covering up the structural work beneath. To both the eye and the touch it's clearly an inferior material.

[avngingandbright]

Yea, just walked by there this morning again. Even the "columns" at the base are covered in this horizontal, corrugated stuff. And there are exposed air conditioning units. Unbelievable.

[Derek2k3]

What did 1055 Park replace?

Nothing special.

[avngingandbright]

Don't know if this is the right place for this, but, does anyone know what is being building on the west side of Lafayette street between Howard and Grand? I passed by it, and there appears to be a new construction with a noticeable and offensive setback from the street trademark of Sam Chang. But I can't seem to find info on it; a google maps search reveals there used to be a rather large building on the site. Condo project, or what?

[monknyc]

I'm not sure what setback you're referring to, but the site with the scaffolding is a Mondrian Hotel, developed by the Morgans Hotel Group.

http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Mondrian-Hotel-NYC
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/realestate/commercial/15sqft.html

[lofter1]

The address is 150 Lafayette.

That building used to rise straight up about 12 stories from the sidewalk (similar in bulk to the neighbor to the south at 140 Lafayette). Over the past year they chopped off 150's stone and masonry then cut back the steel above the 1st Floor (hence your nasty setback) and have since re-shaped the building to conform with Zoning Regulations to allow it to rise to a narrower 28 stories.

[avngingandbright]

Ah, thank you.

[avngingandbright]

Does anyone know what is occurring on the SE corner of 65th and Lexington? There was previously a two or three story limestone structure there (not much ornament, and only one shop) located there; it was nice nonetheless, but not irreplaceable.

Walked by there today...

[KenNYC]

15 floor / 25 apartment condo building, it would appear. I won't say 100% certainly that this is the right lot since I spent very little time on digging it up, but I would imagine this is the right one.

The company name "Lex 65 LLC" would at least put us in the right intersection :)




Premises: 861 LEXINGTON AVENUE MANHATTAN Filed At: 861 LEXINGTON AVENUE MANHATTAN BIN: 1042378 (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?requestid=3&bin=1042378) Block: 1399 Lot: 50 Job Type: NB - NEW BUILDING
Printable (PDF) version of this Permit (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PrintPermit/110214438-01-NB.pdf?requestid=3&allisn=0001928205&allinquirytype=)
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gif Job No: 110214438 (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=110214438&passdocnumber=01) Job Type / App No.: NEWB Fee: STANDARD Permit No: 110214438-01-NB Issued: 03/05/2009 Expires: 01/01/2010 Seq. No.: 01 Filing Date: 02/26/2009 INITIAL Status: ISSUED Work: Proposed Job Start: 03/05/2009 Work Approved: 02/12/2009 NEW BUILDING - NEW BUILDING


http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gif Zoning: N/A Special District: N/A Use: J-2 - RESIDENTIAL APT HOUSE No. Dwellings: 25 Stories: 15 Total Floor Area: 61,900 Landmark: NO Site Fill: ON-SITE
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gifhttp://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/images/Clear.gif Issued to: MAURICE BENDRIHEM Tracking No: GC Business: LEX 65 LLC Phone: 212-308-8602 425 MADISON AVENUE 17TH FL NEW YORK NY 10017 Site Safety Manager: ANTHONY M MARINO License No: M001514 Business: Phone: 917-217-5740 1744 BAYRIDGE AVENUE BROOKLYN NY 11204

[avngingandbright]

That looks like it. That base could've been reused, in my opinion, but oh well.

Thanks for the help!

[antinimby]

While we're on the Upper East Side, this was from curbed (http://curbed.com/archives/2009/03/04/curbedwire_ues_demo_begins_casting_call_for_homeow ners.php) a few weeks ago...



CurbedWire: UES Demo Begins

Wednesday, March 4, 2009, by Joey

http://curbed.com/uploads/2009_3_70and3.jpg

UPPER EAST SIDE—The five tenements slated for demolition at the corner
of 79th Street and Third Avenue are finally coming down, a Curbed
tipster reports. Word was (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/12/29/neighborhood_watch_development_unfrozen_on_ues.php ) that Cetra/Ruddy was designing a new building
for the plot that could climb up to 21 stories, but, well, financing and all... [CurbedWire Inbox]

[avngingandbright]

Well, that corner has been officially blanded for who knows how many decades.

[sandyhl]

does anyone know if a new condo is being built on amsterdam near 67 and 68th street area? i see construction going on but don't know if it's a future condo site or commercial. thanks!

[KenNYC]

Some more specific address would be helpful, I don't know what's going on in that area at least.

[antinimby]

She's talking about the new condo building (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=272426) that's underconstruction on the former Red Cross site.

[avngingandbright]

What is going on on the NW corner of 33rd street and Madison? I was driving down 34th the other night and noticed a large corner property missing. Is this part of the 168 Madison building? I might've missed the memo on this one.

[Derek2k3]

http://www.archfwa.com/default.aspx?page=5&type=90&project=556&focus=3

Stalled =(

[ReelDeal]

any idea what those rents will go for say 1 br 40 th floor?
when is the expected completion date ?

[GreenwichBoy]

^^ Here is the link to the website http://www.silvertowers.com/

[Derek2k3]

http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/extell-believes-plans-112-new-condos

Extell Believes! Plans 112 New Condos

By Dana Rubinstein
April 21, 2009 | 3:29 p.m
Gary Barnett in Extell's offices.

Gary Barnett still believes in the New York City condo market.

On April 3, Mr. Barnett’s Extell Development filed plans with the city for a 13-story, 54-unit residential building, to be designed by SLCE Architects, at 147 West 21st Street. Then, on April 8, Extell filed plans for an 18-story, 58-unit building, to be designed by CETRA/CRI Architecture, at 225 West 58th Street.

The moves demonstrate a rather comforting confidence in what is generally thought to be an ailing marketplace.

In recent first-quarter reports, Corcoran and Douglas Elliman estimated that Manhattan apartment sales had dropped since last year by 52 percent and 47.6 percent, respectively.

Even so, Extell spokesman George Arzt pointed out: “They’re both prime locations. And the apartments will be attractively priced.”

[Zanzibar]

Has anyone heard about a proposed buyout of Fairway's lease on Broadway between W.74th & W.75 and a sale of Citarella's building? On each of these streets there are vacant buildings that appear to be ripe for a razed.

[Zanzibar]

The addresses of the major buildings are 2127 Broadway which houses Fairway market and a dance/gym/studio and 2135 Broadway which is Citarella. On W. 75th St., there are two small brownstones, essentially void of tenants and on W. 74th St., there are two empty brownstones. As far as I know, 2127 and and the buildings on W. 75th are owned by the same person. Fairway has tried to buy its building, but the owner wouldn't sell. Citarella has tried to buy the two brownstones adjoining its property on W. 75th, but the owner wouldn't sell. Seems to me that they are holding on to all the property to sell it to developer. Hope this helps.

[Derek2k3]

Loft 44
5 East 44th Street
22 stories 232 feet
Alan Ritchie of The Office of Philip Johnson
The Vintage Group
Residential Condominium
20 units 35,000 Sq. Ft.
Proposed


Loft 44, New York, New York
Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects
http://www.pjar.com/progress.html

http://www.pjar.com/images/portfolio_large/Loft44-1.jpg http://www.pjar.com/images/portfolio_large/Loft44-2.jpg

"The site is only twenty-seven feet wide, but by breaking the building’s width into 3’-0” bays, all interior walls and exterior detailing is designed to respect this simple module. "

The building is now called "Number 5."

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3503440471_1c251799fe_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3503440467_86dfa80173_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/3503440459_ed181ee512.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3565/3503440477_03377a7b87.jpg

This might have trouble staying white.

[Derek2k3]

16 East 46th Street
C3D Architecture
27 Stories 262 feet (was going to be 29 stories)
Residential 18 Units



Permit:
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=110117436&passdocnumber=01



http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3305/3504293466_0627f3c511_o.jpg
http://c3darchitecture.com


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3571/3503478107_1c269db38d.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/3503478093_ff73627ef5.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3577/3503478097_225562075d.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3551/3503478101_b07a83fc35.jpg

Only in Manhattan.

[Derek2k3]

Also, one street north at 13 East 47th is a cleared site for a 24 story sliver designed by Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel. Same firm that brought us 111 Lawrence, most of their buildings are fair however.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=110085434&passdocnumber=01

[ReelDeal]

how do they bypass the FAR rules with these slivers buildings ?
or is there a special formula that allows them ?

maintenance must be terrible.Cant spread out common charges much.

i also would bet you get swaying from the wind if the top isnt adjacent to another building.

[ReelDeal]

Click here: Cuomo (http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/ag-forces-sheffield57-kent-swig-to-suspend-sales-attorney-general-andrew-cuomo) stops sales at Sheffield57

[Derek2k3]

They filed permits to bulld a 15 story residential tower at 14 East 34th Street. Never heard of the arch. firm, but they're hq'd in Queens, so I don't have high expectations.

I attached the existing building on the site below. It's decent.

[Ninjahedge]

The building is now called "Number 5."

......

This might have trouble staying white.

I walk by this quite often.

I really hate it, the entire building looks like a plastic storage case for hair styling products from the 80's.

It shows very little imagination, absolutely no concen with the buildings around it, and, as you said, keeping it clean is going to be a beast! (I do not see any gutters or other water handling systems in the facade.... it will run down the seams and drip over whatever it feels like leaving black drip trails in no time.....)


Ah well. I just had to find the post that mentioned this building so I could complain about it after getting pissed at seeing it this morning!! ;)

[nyfinancier]

Does anyone in the forum know buildings that have a high foreign national concentration?

[Tectonic]

520 Broome Street:

https://community.emporis.com/nwimages/6/2009/08/722316.jpg

https://community.emporis.com/nwimages/6/2009/08/722319.jpg

Can you find Trump Soho?

[brianac]

303 East 33rd

303 East 33rd Street
Kips Bay/Murray Hill


http://www.tollbrothers.com/models/1_bedroom_1382_/elevations/303_building_med.jpg

Listing Description

A new condominium residence to New York City, 303 East 33rd will be located in the desirable Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. Murray Hill is well known for its residential charm, neighborhood conveniences, and great access to transportation. In addition to providing our extraordinary attention to detail and superior quality, this 12-story plus penthouse NYC condo will provide buyers the opportunity to live in an environmentally responsible building that will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified.

303 East 33rd will feature studio, 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom residences along with on-site parking. Amenities for this condo in Manhattan have been designed to make not only your personal space feel relaxing and inviting, but the common areas will attain the highest level of comfort as well. The lobby is staffed with a 24-hour concierge and opens up into a resident media area, billiards room, lounge with wet bar and fireplace, and peaceful outdoor garden. A fully-equipped fitness center abuts the children's playroom and bicycle storage. The rooftop will feature a sun deck with comfortable seating, a bocce court and outdoor grill. 303 East 33rd takes luxury a step further with a wealth of elegant amenities that are anything but ordinary.


COMPLETE ARTICLE (http://realestate.nydailynews.com/listingdetail.aspx?listingid=1425711&featured=1)

http://realestate.nydailynews.com/listingdetail.aspx?listingid=1425711&featured=1

© Copyright 2009 NYDailyNews.

[Derek2k3]

Didn't turn out as well as the renderings.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4015762488_b200e6dff6_o.jpg
Joel Raskin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelrnyc/4015762488/sizes/o/in/pool-18964236@N00/)
57 Irving Place

[lofter1]

That one ^ is unfortunate.

[Derek2k3]

The Savanna 415

GKV Architects
http://www.gkvarchitects.com/


Seems to be somewhere in West Chelsea.

[antinimby]

Actually, that's the now defunct 415 Eighth (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16418) project.

[Derek2k3]

Your right. It doesn't look so bad now we can see the entire building. It's still too small for a site that's across from Penn Station.

[Derek2k3]

An unbuilt apartment tower on Fifth Avenue by Gabelli Sheppard Architects. It would've replaced a handsome utilitarian building that currently has the Tommy Hilfiger Store.


http://www.gabelliniassociates.com/gabellini.html

Fifth Avenue Residences
New York, New York

Prismatically defined against the backdrop of city and sky, this proposed fifteen-story residential tower located on a prominent Fifth Avenue site was commissioned in 2006 by a New York developer. Its slender, crystalline form rises like an exposed vertical seam of rock crystal from within the block of masonry buildings. Above the three-story retail podium, ten full-floor, 4,000-square-foot residences embody a contemporary urban identity. These three- and four-bedroom spaces are composed to take full advantage of the three natural exposures, while a cantilevered volume of five penthouse levels hovers above. The penthouse interiors are defined by open plans, interconnected living areas, and light-filled, glass-enclosed bathing suites. The blending of filtered natural and warm artificial light around the perimeter softens the perceived boundary between inside and outside. Living space becomes optical and sensory space. On the building's two roof levels, open-air gardens provide residents with a gravity pool, outdoor dining spaces, morning sun deck, and panoramic evening terrace.

[infoshare]

An unbuilt apartment tower on Fifth Avenue by Gabelli Sheppard Architects.

A 'Nifty looking' new building (on paper at least) that will be one to follow. If/when it breaks ground this will be a thread-worthy project. Thanks for the great posts Derek2k3.