Chelsea Enclave - 177 Ninth Avenue - Polshek Partnership
I couldn't find this anywhere else.
Construction Watch: Serenity Soon for Chelsea Enclave
October 6, 2009, by Joey
In an age of delayed, stalled and stagnating construction sites, kudos to Chelsea Enclave for putting itself together so quickly. The seven-story, 53-unit condop—which, we'd like to remind you, recently sold #3B—just celebrated its one-year anniversary of serious construction on the grounds of Chelsea's historic General Theological Seminary. After a round of price cuts back in April, StreetEasy lists eight units in contract. We like the backside view a bit better.
Chelsea Enclave [Official Site]
Chelsea Enclave coverage [Curbed]
http://curbed.com/archives/2009/10/0...ea_enclave.php
Construction Watch: Inside Chelsea Enclave's Secret Garden
April 6, 2009, by Joey
The back of the Chelsea Enclave, seen from "The Close."
(click thumbnails to enlarge)
One of the unique features of Ninth Avenue's rising Chelsea Enclave is its easy access to a semi-secluded part of town that most people don't even know exists. The former Development Du Jour's backyard is "The Close," the interior garden between West 21st and 22nd Streets that connects the historic buildings of Chelsea's General Theological Seminary, on whose grounds the Enclave is built (a new Seminary library will be built into the condop's garden-facing lower floors). The building has made epic strides since our last check-in in October, with the facade now largely in place. Above, the back of the Enclave seen from The Close, a shot our tipster was so determined to get that he risked eternal damnation in the process. Here's the story:So I showed up during the garden's open visiting hours, and basically you sign in and get a visitor pass to clip to your shirt. The lady tells you "no photos allowed." OK, no problem. The gardens aren't as big as I was expecting. Unfortunately there were tons of people around so flouting the rule wasn't going to happen. Instead I put my camera on high-speed burst and casually shifted it on my shoulder with the button down. So I took like 20 scattered shots and a couple were OK. I think the rule is so they don't end up with huge Japanese wedding parties or tourists shooting in the windows at students, etc. I don't think I violated any real sanctity by shooting across their quad with no other humans in the shot.Guess you'll find out upon arrival at the Pearly Gates, friend. According to StreetEasy, six Chelsea Enclave listings are in contract and prices are still hovering around a heavenly $2,000/sf.
Chelsea Enclave coverage [Curbed]
Chelsea Enclave [Official Site]
http://curbed.com/archives/2009/04/0...ret_garden.php
Development Du Jour: Chelsea Enclave
October 2, 2008, by Joey
A rendering of the finished product, seen from the Seminary's garden.
(click thumbnails to enlarge)
Location: 177 Ninth Avenue btwn 20th/21st Streets
Size: Seven floors, 53 one- to four-bedroom units
Prices: $1.4 million to $6.2 million, so far
Architect: Polshek Partnership
Developer: Brodsky Organization
Sales & Marketing: Corcoran Sunshine
And so, one of Chelsea's most bitter battles has come to this—the day the luxury condop building on the grounds of the neighborhood's historic Seminary officially kicks off its sales and marketing. We've had a look at the Chelsea Enclave before, and we'll share more about construction progress and building finishes later on today, but we wanted to get the look of the building out there for all to see. Many new developments boast gardens and landscaped areas, but how many can claim a park that's over a century old? "The Close," the General Theological Seminary's central garden, will continue to be open to the public, but it will also serve as the Chelsea Enclave's backyard (and view, for some lucky buyers).
Nine penthouses will all have private outdoor space, and thanks to the massive footprint of the low-rise building, Chelsea Enclave will have one of the biggest landscaped roof decks in town (open to all residents), complete with grill, fireplace and dining area. Other building amenities include 24-hour concierge, on-site parking, children's play room and a fitness center/yoga studio. In addition to a windfall of cash, the Seminary gets a new library on the building's garden-facing first floor, while the Ninth Avenue side will have the building lobby and retail galore. Chelsea may be over-developed to hell (sorry, religious dudes!), but this is a far cry from the ultra-modern look-at-me towers rising along the nearby High Line. It's just a little more...quiet (the decision not to include a rendering showing Ninth Avenue probably helps). Still, it's luxury all the way. They're even using the same wood floors as in 40 Bond! But in this current climate, will it take a miracle to get those prices?
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/10/0...ea_enclave.php
The seminary's park with its centenarian trees and historic buildings is one of my favorite hidden gems of the City. The Enclave is an improvement over the the buildings that were previously on its site.
So far this is an example of smart development. Here's hoping for some diverse retail.
This is how red brick should be done. Very nice although for its footprint and wide stance, it should be taller.
At least three or four more stories taller (after a setback of course) would make it look less squat.
It got chopped down by the community board:
The red brick is a nice touch, alluding to its neighbor the seminary.
Here is the awful building it replaced:
A Fraternal Twin for a Seminary
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
The old Close of the General Theological Seminary.
The brand-new Chelsea Enclave, a luxury apartment building.
IN the middle of Chelsea, an area known historically for artists and more recently for luxury condominiums, there is something unexpected: an active theological seminary that’s been in the neighborhood since the 1820s.
Recently, the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church has taken a cue from its surroundings in the interest of raising cash: an apartment building called the Chelsea Enclave has gone up on its grounds. It is scheduled for completion next month.
The Chelsea Enclave apartments and the seminary take up a full city block.
The new structure stretches from 20th to 21st Street along Ninth Avenue and the seminary winds across 20th Street, up 10th Avenue, and back toward Ninth Ave along 21st Street. Hidden in the center of the buildings is the seminary’s garden, called the Close — a secluded courtyard that is home to American elms and manicured grass, and feels closer to New England than it does to the C train.
“We present every building as exotic and unique,” said James Lansill, a senior managing director at Corcoran Sunshine, the brokerage handling sales. “But this building has something that no one else has, and that is the view of the Close.”
The Chelsea Enclave is a seven-story, 53-unit luxury condop with spacious one- to four-bedroom apartments, high-end finishes and a garage. The building’s exterior, which was subject to approval by the Landmark Preservation Commission because the seminary is part of the Chelsea Historic District, was designed by Polshek Partnership Architects. It is made of glass and a red brick that matches the seminary buildings almost perfectly.
The apartments run between $1.325 million and $10.75 million; a round of price cuts in April ranging from 6 to 14 percent brought the building to its current numbers.
The Chelsea Enclave opened for advance sales on Sept. 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers collapsed and the economy went into a tailspin. In addition to that painfully bad timing, the building was still under construction, and potential buyers had to content themselves with renderings and models. In recent years, plans and pretty pictures used to be enough for deals to go forward. Not anymore.
“Buyers literally refuse to buy in presales,” Mr. Lansill said. “People just don’t believe the lobby is going to be nice, they don’t believe that the apartments are going to have good finishes until they see it.”
Now, however, there are things to see and tires to kick. In the last three months, since around the time the lobby was finished and model apartments were available for show, six apartments have sold. That brings the total of apartments in contract up to 13, with another unit closed and one contract pending.
This project, like almost all new construction, is in a difficult position: Until a certain percentage of apartments have sold, many banks are unwilling to make loans to people who want to buy there.
“It’s a little bit of a chicken-and-egg problem,” said Melissa Cohn, the president of Manhattan Mortgage. “In order to get the deals done, you need to get buyers into the building. But banks have been hesitant to let buyers into the building.”
Nonetheless, Ms. Cohn says, some lenders are willing to take the plunge on this project — she arranged one of the sales in the building herself — though they demand a higher interest rate.
Slow presales have not been the only hitch at the Chelsea Enclave. The proposed size of the building caused quite a stir in the planning stages a few years ago.
Originally, the seminary and the project’s developer, the Brodsky Organization, envisioned a 17-story building replacing a mid-20th-century building called Sherrill Hall.
A building that tall, however, required special approval, because this part of Chelsea has a height restriction of 75 feet. The proposed skyscraper hit stiff resistance from the community board and local politicians.
“They came forward with this out-of-scale building,” State Senator Tom Duane said. “This is the core of not just the historic district, but of the whole neighborhood. We fought them and we won.”
Eventually, the Brodsky Organization and the seminary settled for the standard seven-story limit and signed a land lease for 99 years and about $30 million, paid upfront.
Though sales are slow, construction continues on schedule. And if it takes years to sell the entire building?
“So be it,” said Daniel Brodksy, a managing partner at the Brodsky Organization. “Our family has been in the real estate business for three generations, and we’ve never dropped a project. We’ve lived through great markets and through lousy markets. We’ve always held onto our buildings.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/re...ref=realestate
Chelsea Enclave's Historic Holy Land
January 14, 2010, by Joey
View of The Close and private terraces from the Chelsea Enclave roof deck.
(click to enlarge)
The Chelsea Enclave emails us so much it's only natural that they finally invited their BFF over for a visit. The 53-unit luxury condop, built somewhat controversially on the grounds of Chelsea's historic General Theological Seminary at 177 Ninth Avenue, is in the finishing-touches phase, and our tour brought us through the Alan Wanzenberg-designed lobby and up to the Wanzenberg-designed model unit (an in-contract 3BR, 3.5BA, 2,259-square-foot apartment listed at $4.53 million). Then we got a sneak peek of the building's showstopper-in-progress, the massive rooftop terrace overlooking "The Close," the Seminary's semi-private interior park—basically the backyard for future Enclave residents. Jealous! According to the Corcoran Sunshine team a few more deals have been done since the NYT's recent article on the building, which stated 13 units sold. Prices have come down since the building's pre-Lehman Development Du Jour days, and if a few miracle workers are needed to move those remaining units, we think we know a few nearby.
Official Site: Chelsea Enclave [chelseaenclave.com]
Chelsea Enclave coverage [Curbed]
http://curbed.com/archives/2010/01/1..._holy_land.php
Very handsomely detailed.
Kudos to Polshek.
Concern Over General Theological Seminary’s Plan to Sell
December 1, 2010
BY WINNIE McCROY
The Brodsky Organization plans to convert 2, 3 & 4 Chelsea Square into luxury condominiums.
For sale: 422 W. 20th Street
Concerned about the impact it will have on the historic character of Chelsea, members of a neighborhood organization have taken issue with the General Theological Seminary’s decision to sell several of their real estate holdings at 20th Street and Ninth Avenue to the Brodsky Organization — a luxury housing development group. While the G.T.S. said financial concerns have necessitated the sale, members of Save Chelsea cite concerns with poor fiscal management and a lack of transparency.
“Over the last few years, the G.T.S. has assured us that they would apprise us of any future plans they were contemplating. Considering the enormity of their current plan to sell huge amounts of Seminary property to a commercial developer, we were fairly shocked by the lack of communication about this plan displayed thus far,” said Lesley Doyel, co-president of Save Chelsea.
Doyel said Save Chelsea only recently found out about the sale, for which G.T.S. Interim President Rev. Lang Lowrey said they signed contracts with Brodsky Organization on November 29 — subject to New York City approvals and that of the New York State Attorney General, the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and the bank that holds the Seminary’s loans. The Seminary will retain a “buy-back option” on all of the sales.
“The adoption of this plan represents a comprehensive solution to financial challenges that have been a drain on morale and a serious impediment to the Seminary’s mission for many years,” said Episcopal Diocese of New York Bishop Mark Sisk, the Seminary’s new board chair, in an October 18 press release. “G.T.S. trustees took a bold but very carefully considered step to leverage assets through the sale of residential properties. The payoff is the substantial if not the complete elimination of all General’s debt.”
Calling it “The Plan to Choose Life,” the G.T.S. hopes to eliminate $41 million in debt and restore the school’s endowment through the $60 million sale of buildings referred to as 2, 3, and 4 Chelsea Square to the Brodsky Organization to convert into luxury condominiums. They also plan to sell a large apartment building at 422 West 20th Street, and the West Building, the oldest historic building on the Seminary’s campus. The Seminary said the sale would preserve the G.T.S.’s classic quadrangle known as the “Close,” as well as the historic buildings fronting West 21st Street.
The goal is to maintain the historic quadrangle plan for a residential Seminary community envisioned by Dean Hoffman at the end of the 19th century. The new plan would retain all the Hoffman buildings that front West 21st Street with the central Chapel, the Desmond Tutu Center and the new library forming the “E.”
full article (Chelsea Now)
Historic Chelsea Seminary Becoming Housing for the Unholy?
December 6, 2010, by Joey Arak
2, 3, 4 Chelsea Square: Currently used as faculty housing
422 West 20th Street: Technically just outside the G.T.S. campus. It's a large building used
for student housing, preschool and day care facilities and a student-run neighborhood ministry.
West Building: The oldest building on the campus, and in need of a pricey restoration
that the Seminary has said it doesn't have the money for. Handles a slew of uses,
including offices, a music room, student lounge, a Center for Christian Spirituality
and a Center for Peace and Reconciliation.
Below is a campus map pulled from the Seminary's website that points out the buildings being sold.
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2010/1...nholy.php#more
Historic Chelsea Seminary Begins Its Great Sell-Off
January 31, 2011, by Sara Polsky
The cash flow problems at Chelsea's historic General Theological Seminary, the two rows of landmark buildings plus a park bounded by 20th and 21st streets and Ninth and Tenth avenues, are not news. It was those very financial difficulties that led the seminary to approve luxury housing on its land and then to open up its hotel/conference center. But those moves weren't enough to put the seminary back in the black, so the institution went looking for another answer to its financial prayers. It decided to sell off more buildings in what it called "The Plan to Choose Life." And according to Chelsea Now, the G.T.S. will be hooked up the ventilator any day now, as soon as the Attorney General's approval allows the seminary to close on the sale of its buildings to developer the Brodsky Organization. With the transaction looming and neighborhood fears growing, Brodsky bigwigs opened up about some of their plans, which include preservation and new construction.
Brodsky exec Dean Amro tells Chelsea Now the organization has no major transformations planned for the landmarked historic buildings it has purchased. At 2, 3, 4 Chelsea Square (currently faculty housing), facade restoration is in the cards. The West Building will get that and a new paint job, and the developer plans to ask the Landmarks Preservation Commission to take down an ugly fire escape at 422 West 20th Street. It all sounds fairly tame, and perhaps the buildings' apartments will be rentals, because G.T.S. is not eager to see them leave the fold: the seminary plans to keep a buy-back option in all the contracts and reacquire the buildings when money is no longer a problem.
What might worry community members more is the Brodsky Organization's plan for a new residential development on G.T.S. grounds, replacing the tennis courts right next to the West Building. Amro tells Chelsea Now the building has no design yet but would "be consistent with the brick, brownstone and glass structure" of Chelsea Enclave and would need no zoning variances. If that's not okay with the neighbors, well, at least the West Building's Center for Peace and Reconciliation is just a few short steps away.
The site of the planned new construction:
Going once, going twice: G.T.S. & Brodsky to close on 2, 3, 4 [Chelsea Now]
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...at_selloff.php
Architect Unveils Plans for Chelsea Seminary Redevelopment
An architect showed plans for two luxury residences on properties sold off by the General Theological Seminary.
By Tara Kyle
Historic and current views of the General Theological Seminary
West Building, in 1900 and 2011
422 West 20th Street
Nos. 2, 3 and 4 Chelsea Square
HELL'S KITCHEN — The architect behind the luxury redevelopment proposed for portions of a nearly 200-year-old Chelsea seminary unveiled preliminary building plans Wednesday night.
The debt-ridden General Theological Seminary (GTS), the world's oldest Anglican institution of its kind, announced last fall plans to sell off parts of its campus to the Brodsky Organization in order to ensure its survival.
The news sparked concerns around Chelsea because the landmarked institution's grassy enclave, bounded by Ninth and Tenth Avenues and 20th and 21st Streets, is a rare pocket of serenity in lower Manhattan. Moreover, GTS has a history of strained neighborhood relations.
Brodsky's lead architect, John H. Beyer of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, revealed preliminary plans Wednesday night for two properties — a portion of the schoolyard now used as a tennis court, and the historic West Building — to Community Board 4's landmarks committee.
"The idea is to use contemporary touches while we pick up significant historical gestures," said Beyer, calling the GTS campus "probably one of the most special parts of all of New York."
The proposed new building atop the tennis courts attracted mixed reviews from CB4 members. Critics took issue with the seventh floor, which includes elevator equipment on the set-back rooftop, as well as two duplex apartments that rise higher than the rest of the six-story building.
"That looks funky, and it looks out of scale," said committee chair Edward Kirkland. "Much of this is admirable, but things are bound to get difficult in this narrow space."
Other suggestions from members included aesthetic changes, including adjusting prominent chimneys, diminishing the size of a glass pathway from the street, and replacing a proposed gap in the campus' brownstone wall with a small gate.
Members did, however, praise the thoughtfulness behind the plans, which attempted to borrow design elements from the campus' current appearance. The new building includes details from the 1930s and 1950s, as do the current buildings, and incorporate similar materials including brownstone and brick. The window styles and ceiling heights would also remain similar to the current buildings.
Plans to restore and renovate the West Building, the oldest part of GTS still standing, aroused less controversy.
Beyer and Brodsky intend to strip the building of its wall of ivy, which while perhaps aesthetically pleasing to some neighbors, is contributing to the structure's decay.
"This is not an Ivy League institution, so the ivy is an intrusion," said Kirkland.
The plans also entail adding four doors to the south side of the building, but these, intended to provide apartment access to residents, would barely be visible from the street.
All current plans are preliminary and must still go before the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
"Absolutely there is a contrast between what we are doing and what was there before," Beyer said. "We have to be flexible and look at things creatively."
A set of townhouses on the campus known on Chelsea 2, 3, 4, and an apartment building across the street at 422 West 20th Street were also a part of the sale.
http://www.dnainfo.com/20110519/chel...#ixzz1MxuVSkuX
Not Too Close
New renderings of Chelsea's General Theological Seminary reveal new luxury enclave.
by Tom Stoelker
View east along 20th Street. Courtesy BBB
In 1883 the General Theological Seminary campus designed by Charles Coolidge Haight was lapped at its western edge by the waters of the Hudson. Now it will lap more condo owners in luxury.
After selling the buildings on the east end for $10 million to the Brodsky Organization to develop Chelsea Enclave, luxury apartments designed by Polshek Partnership, the seminary still found itself $41 million in the hole. Last winter, it was revealed that Brodsky would take over an additional 90,000 square feet, including the seminary’s oldest building, the West Building, built in 1836. The developer retained Beyer, Blinder, Belle (BBB) to design more luxury housing within the historic quad, known as the Close. New renderings show a building replacing a tennis court and playground and connected by a glass link to the West Building, also being converted to luxe condos.
View of the glass link between the West Building and addition from the Close (left) and from 20th street (right).
BBB principal John Beyer said that the new building’s design refers back to the old campus in the same manner as Polshek’s. With the exception of the West Building, the old campus structures have strong rusticated bases, red brick midsections with pronounced cornice lines and robust turrets and slate clad gables above. The new design mimics that organization, with the same rusticated base, a red brick middle, but with a zinc clad set-back at the top. A steel band course divides base from the midsection with recessed flush bay windows for four stories, before setting back twice to provide balconies for the top two floors. Facing the Close, Beyer said, the generous glass corners at the top defer to the set backs of the original campus. “We wanted to dematerialize that top, to make it soft,” he said.
For the gothic West Building, the firm plans to clear away the ivy that is eating away the Manhattan schist façade and otherwise restore the exterior. The garden will be restored as well by Andrew Moore of Quennell Rothschild Partners. Moore said that with the exception of one crabapple tree, all of the large trees would be left untouched and the hodgepodge of paving stones will be restored to the original bluestone. “We’ve been looking at the historical development of the Close and the character is primarily grass and trees in the center,” said Moore, noting that a child’s play area will be relocated and adults provided with a barbeque area in place of the tennis court.
At the Community Board 4 meeting held on June 1, Save Chelsea, who in the past has been an outspoken critic of the Brodsky plan, referred reporters to one lone voice against the plan.
Architect and Chelsea resident David Holowka argued the new building design “cynically imitates” Polshek’s as “a strategy to get it through landmarks.” Noting that even the original master planner “took pains to take a hands-off approach to the West Building, to leave it to its own time, symmetry and materials,” he complained that with the glass link, “it’s no longer a self-contained free standing symmetrical building.”
A public hearing for the proposal at the Landmarks Preservation Commission is scheduled for June 21.
http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=5475
Last edited by Merry; March 17th, 2012 at 02:52 AM.
Construction Watch
June 30, 2011, by Sara Polsky
The Brodsky Organization is at work on its makeover of buildings at Chelsea's General Theological Seminary, and Chelsea Now has some updates on how the redo's going. Townhouses 2, 3, and 4 have already been renovated. Work on 422 West 20th Street, which will become 40 to 45 condos, could start as soon as tomorrow.
Brodsky negotiates plans for former GTS property [Chelsea Now]
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...tion_watch.php
Details Revealed on Chelsea Seminary Dorm-Turned-Condos
by Sara Polsky
When Chelsea's General Theological Seminary found itself in need of money in 2010, the institution returned to a strategy it had tried once before: letting a developer build luxury apartments on seminary property. GTS made a $47.5 million deal with Chelsea Enclave developer the Brodsky Organization to sell three buildings and a plot of land. One of those buildings, the student housing at 422 West 20th Street, was set to get a condo conversion and hit the market this year. And it looks like it will! The project's website is now live, with some details about what to expect. And that is: 37 one-bedroom through three-bedroom units, 600 to 1,640 square feet. The exterior's getting restored, and the interior renovation—done by Alan Wanzenberg Architects—includes a new lobby, kitchens, and bathrooms. Above, what the finished building should look like.
We hear sales are likely to begin in March, and asking prices range from $640,000 to $2.05 million. Amenities include a gym, roof-deck, private storage, and a part-time doorman. Residents also get access to The Close, the Seminary's park. Not a bad back yard!
Here's what the place looks like right now:
[Click for big!]
Official website: 422 West 20th Street [422w20.com]
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/0...ondos.php#more
Chelsea Seminary's Latest Conversion Wants One-Day Sellout
by Sara Polsky
We've been eagerly waiting for 422 West 20th Street, the first in the next round of General Theological Seminary buildings to go condo, to hit the market. And it's about to do so, in a bit of an unusual way. The Journal explains that the apartments will go up for sale the weekend of March 24—at an open house where buyers are advised to show up with paperwork and the $200 deposit for an offering plan. The brokers are hoping that early interest in the building will translate into a frenzy of sales, with contracts signed three to five days after the open house and closings beginning late this summer.
So what are these apartments like? They're designed by Alan Wanzenberg Architects, the same team behind 422 West 20th's more luxurious older sibling, Chelsea Enclave. But unlike the Enclave apartments—or the rest of the Brodsky Organization-developed GTS condo conversions to come—this building isn't going for luxury.
Official website: 422 West 20th Street [422w20.com]
New Twist in Seminary's Conversion [WSJ]
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/0...ay_sellout.php
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