West 58 - 426 West 58th Street - Condo - Conversion & Addition by Cetra/Ruddy

[Kris]

March 12, 2004

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

Staking Out New Condos in a Giant's Turf

By RACHELLE GARBARINE

In the shadow of the gargantuan AOL Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, a century-old onetime telephone exchange is being renovated and expanded into a boutique condominium with 16 residences.

In the $27 million transformation, 11 apartments, each with two or three bedrooms and 1,800 to 2,700 square feet, will be carved from the existing five-story structure at 426 West 58th Street, near Ninth Avenue. Rising atop that neo-Renaissance style building, built between 1900 and 1906 for the New York Telephone Company, will be a six-story addition comprising five apartments of 2,600 to 3,700 square feet each.

Motivating the conversion of the building, to be known as West 58, is its location in a neighborhood whose changes are most dramatically signaled by the Time Warner Center, said Miki Naftali, president of Elad Properties, the developer. Elad has converted or built 11 other condominium projects in Manhattan totaling about 500 apartments.

Elad's intent, Mr. Naftali said, is to offer buyers a lower-priced alternative to the 201-apartment condominium at the Time Warner Center a block and a half away, where prices start at $2.6 million. Prices at West 58 are $1.4 million to $5 million, he said, adding that the project is to be completed by early next year.

Mr. Naftali said that since the sales office opened at West 58 on Feb. 29, 10 apartments have been placed under contract, and prices had been raised three times. "Our buyers are buying from floor plans because they realize their apartments will appreciate in value if they get in at the beginning of the project and the neighborhood,'' said Iva Spitzer, an executive vice president at the residential brokerage firm Douglas Elliman, the sales agent for West 58.

Monica Blum, president of the 13-block Lincoln Square Business Improvement District, said West 58, just outside her district, would probably be the first of many new residential projects in the neighborhood.

But Anthony Borelli, district manager at Community Board 4, said that while the Time Warner Center was impressive "it is too early to tell what impact it will have on the area.''

Mr. Naftali of Elad said that since his company had focused in recent years on converting commercial structures to housing, it sought out buildings "that we see potential in and are not necessarily on the market.'' That was the case for the West 58th Street building.

Adding to the attractions of the building's location and architecture, Mr. Naftali said, was the fact that the building, which he bought for $7.5 million, had only one occupant, the nonprofit Bureau of Jewish Education, making it easier to convert. He said he negotiated for six months with the educational group, which owned and occupied the building for the last 40 years, and closed the sale last September when the group relocated to new quarters in Midtown.

Also attractive, Mr. Naftali said, was the ability to convert and expand the building without any special zoning approvals. The structure is built around a central courtyard, providing more windows to let light into the apartments. The structure itself could support the six new floors without extensive structural reinforcement, he said, noting that the extra floors were necessary to make the project "economically feasible.''

Nancy Ruddy, a principal of Cetra/Ruddy, the architectural and interior design firm handling the conversion, recalled that when she first walked through the existing building, it was "in remarkably good condition and very solid,'' though it consisted "of lots of teeny offices.''

Ms. Ruddy said that while the structure's masonry walls, about 24 inches thick, and interior cast iron columns were assets when it came to adding the six stories, a steel platform was being built on the roof as a foundation for the addition.

Gutting the interior, she added, was not an issue, since the office walls were made of sheetrock and came down easily.

Ms. Ruddy said the addition would be modern in style to create "a clear delineation of the old and new.'' The new structure will be clad in clear and frosted glass, metal panels and stainless steel that will reflect the sky, she said, and will look as though it is resting lightly atop the older limestone one.

It will be capped, she said, with "a modern interpretation of a cornice that respects the architectural order established by the existing building.''

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Edward]

Building's website is at http://www.wfifty8.com

[Edward]

Construction of West 58. 9 July 2005.

[Edward]

The most recent update at condos.wirednewyork.com now includes the condo sale prices for West 58.

[brianac]

Construction Watch: Hudson Hill's Facade of Fame!


Friday, May 15, 2009, by Lockhart











[Photos by Will Femia]

Above, we've published one photo of the facade at West 58th Street's Hudson Hill for each unit that developers claim has either gone out on contract or is "in negotiation" since the new development unveiled its game-changing, mind-bending Facade Blowout Sale a few weeks back. Count 'em friends: ten (10) ten units! This facade blowout sale thing is happening! Though it might also have something to do with recent PriceChops, which the developer seems to have pegged to a rather precise concept of the market drop: "We think we know what the market is, and we think it's gone down 23 percent [from last year]." NB, not 22%, not 25%. Twenty-three percent. Good to know.
· West Side Stories [NYPost]
· Annals of Marketing: Hudson Hill's Odd Facade Blowout [Curbed]
· Hudson Hill Condominium [Official Site]

http://curbed.com/archives/2009/05/1...f_fame.php?o=1