Manhattan Residential Development

[krulltime]

127 Fulton Street going condo


December 8, 2005

The eight-story Keuffel & Esser building at 127 Fulton Street recently sold for $8.5 million. New owners 127 Fulton LLC plan to convert the 27,000-square-foot Financial District office building into – you guessed it – condos, according to Helmsley-Spear, which handled the deal for both buyer and seller Fulton K & E LLC.

Copyright © 2003-2005 The Real Deal.

[lofter1]

Slump? Real Estate Tax Revenue Keeps Rising

By MIKE McINTIRE
New York Times
December 14, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/ny.../14fiscal.html


Real estate values in New York have risen so much that a modest decline in the market will not seriously disrupt the stream of revenue from property-transaction taxes that has helped balance the city's budget in recent years, according to a new report by independent analysts.

The report, released yesterday by the city's Independent Budget Office, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, suggested that the city has been understating its projected revenues from real estate and mortgage taxes. It said that these tax revenues have continued to defy expectations of a decline, and that it now appears any future slowdown will not be as pronounced as was once feared.

The rosier outlook is due as much to a quirk of the city's tax structure as it is to the region's economic vitality.

Real estate and mortgages valued at more than $500,000 are taxed at higher rates when sold or refinanced, and with more residential and commercial properties priced above that threshold, the flow of money from that revenue stream has ballooned. Thirty-three percent of residential sales last year involved homes priced above $500,000, up from 10 percent in 2000, the report said.

"Barring an unprecedented fall in property values, this increase in the share of transactions subject to the higher rates is unlikely to be fully reversed," the report said. "Thus, at least some of the recent tax revenue growth is probably locked in thanks to this bracket creep."

What is more, unlike the income tax rate, which declines when applied to lower incomes, the higher real estate transaction tax rate applies to the full sale price. So if a home sells for just a few dollars more than $500,000, the seller must pay 42 percent more in transaction taxes on the entire amount, not just the portion that exceeds the half-million-dollar mark.

The surging real estate market has helped bail the city out of its financial troubles in recent years, and is on track to do the same next year. Just last month, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg released updated estimates showing an extra $3.4 billion from taxes, much of it real estate related, coming in over the next two fiscal years.

Despite the improved tax collections, the administration remained loath to change its assumptions of a looming real estate market decline and its negative effect on the city's $52 billion budget. The city still anticipates reduced revenues over the next few years, which, coupled with rising expenses, results in a projected deficit of more than $4 billion in the fiscal year that begins in 2007.

Yesterday, Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the mayor, said there was nothing in the Independent Budget Office report that would prompt the administration to revise its cautionary long-term outlook.

The report said that despite rising mortgage interest rates, which had been expected to be a drag on real estate sales, there has been little sign of a market slowdown this year.

In the first quarter of the fiscal year that started in July, property transaction taxes totaled $404 million, or 56 percent of what the administration anticipated for the full year. Similarly, taxes on mortgages totaled $458 million, or 62 percent of the projected annual total. As a result of the steady increases, the city last month said it now expected taxes from both categories to end the fiscal year about 50 percent above what was originally expected.

Copyright 2005The New York Times Company

[pianoman11686]

Downtown Condos, Armani Style

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Published: December 11, 2005

STARTING next month, the developer Shaya Boymelgreen will be playing a game of "can you top this" - with himself.

Mr. Boymelgreen took a big risk last year when he converted the former J. P. Morgan headquarters at 15 Broad Street to luxury condos. He brought in the designer Philippe Starck and packaged the remade offices, opposite the New York Stock Exchange, as a hip haven, with a bowling alley and offbeat furnishings. The apartments went on sale in August 2004, the same week a terrorism alert focused on the stock exchange as a potential target.

But intrepid buyers marched past bomb-sniffing dogs to snap up the apartments, and today all but 53 of the 382 units have been sold. Prices in the building have climbed to $1,100 a square foot from about $700.

But can Mr. Boymelgreen do it again?

On Jan. 31, he and his Broad Street partner, Lev Leviev, an Israeli billionaire and diamond magnate, will begin sales on the condo conversion of 20 Pine Street, the former offices of Chase Manhattan Bank, a block north of the Broad Street project. They are turning the building into 409 condos, priced from about $600,000 to $4 million, with an average price per square foot of about $1,020, said Michael Shvo, who is marketing the building.

Where Broad Street had the quirky, effusive Mr. Starck, Pine Street gets the austere, earth-tone aesthetic of the fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who is participating in the project through his interior design firm Armani/Casa.

Broad Street was marketed as "Downtown by Philippe Starck." The new building is being called "20 Pine, the Collection," to emphasize its haute couture chops.

The apartments average more than 1,000 square feet but feature Pullman kitchens built into dining room or living room walls and designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. The Sub-Zero refrigerator, the Fisher & Paykel dishwasher and the cabinets are flush with the wall and the designers are even experimenting with the idea of a panel to hide the Gaggenau range and sink, so that no one ever has to know that you cook, or, in the spirit of the angular fashion models featured in the renderings, even eat.

Mr. Boymelgreen's Broad Street condos were the first of their kind in the financial district. But this time around he has some competition. The developer Steven C. Witkoff began sales last month for the 106-unit Cipriani Club Residences, at 55 Wall Street. Louise Sunshine, the chairwoman emeritus of the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, which is handling sales, said the apartments, which come furnished, are selling for about $1,500 a square foot.

How many more high-end condos can the financial district support? Mr. Boymelgreen is banking that the answer is at least 400 more.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[pianoman11686]

More on 20 Pine Street, from http://cityrealty.com:

Condo sales to start next month at 20 Pine Street 16-DEC-05

Scaffolding and an exterior construction elevator have been erected at 20 Pine Street, 700,000-sq.ft. office building that is being converted to 409 condominium apartments by Shaya Boymelgreen and Lev Leviev.

The offering plan has been approved by the New York State Attorney General’s office and sales are expected to start next month with occupancy planned for 2007.

The tower has one of the finest sites in Manhattan at the epicenter of the financial district.

Its north and east facades front on Chase Manhattan Plaza with its large "Group of Four Trees" 1972 sculpture by Jean Dubuffet Sculpture and sunken fountain by Isamu Noguchi.

It is surrounded by many of the finest buildings in the area including One Chase Manhattan Plaza, 40 Wall Street, 140 Broadway, the Federal Reserve Bank building and 14 Wall Street.

The developers acquired the property last year from the Resnick and Reuben families for about $170 million.

Gruzen Samton LLP is the architectural firm for the conversion and its major projects in the city have include the black residential tower at 245 West 66th Street, the Evansview and Rio apartment towers on the Upper East Side and TriBeCa Point, Parc Place and Regatta at Battery Park City and the Montana on the Upper West Side.

The interiors at 20 Pine Street are being designed by Armani/Casa.

The 35-story building, which is also known as 2 Chase Manhattan Plaza, was erected in 1928 as the headquarters of the Morgan Guaranty Trust and was designed by Graham Anderson Probst & White, the successor firm to Daniel Burnham’s firm whose famous and very influential buildings include the Rookery, Monadnock, Reliance, Wrigley and Merchandise Mart buildings in Chicago and the Flatiron Building in Manhattan.

Mr. Boymelgreen is also the developer of “Downtown by Starck,” the condominium conversion of the office building at 15 Broad Street across from the New York Stock Exchange. He was born in Israel and moved to New York as a student in 1969 and subsequently founded a Jewish bookstore called Eichler's, which is now among the largest Judaica stores in the world. After selling Eichler's, he operated a diamond business and later established his own real estate firm, Boymelgreen Developers, in 1993.

Apartments at 20 Pine Street are expected to range in price from about $600,000 to $4 million witn an average price per square feet over $1,000. The building will be known as “20 Pine, the Collection.” It will have about 60 different apartment layouts.

The kitchens will have Sub-Zero refrigerators, Gaggenau ranges and sinks and Fisher & Paykel dishwashers.

The building will have an indoor pool, a golf simulator, a Turkish bath, a hitness center and a large outdoor terrace.

[vc10]

November 22, 2005

Seminary presents tower plan to Chelsea community




The General Theological Seminary gave an presentation last night at a raucous meeting of Community Board 4 of its plans for a 17-story, mixed-use tower it wants to replace Sherrill Hall, the low-rise building along Ninth Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets that is part of the full-block seminary campus that is one of the major landmarks of Chelsea.

Sam Waterston's Op-Ed Piece in the NYTimes today in support:

December 18, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor
Chelsea's Oasis

By SAM WATERSTON
THE General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, at Ninth Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets, is an oasis amid the bustle of Chelsea. Visitors stroll through the seminary's landscaped quadrangles nearly every day, especially parents with young children and those who wish to worship in the century-old Chapel of the Good Shepherd.
But lately, the seminary has been known more for controversy than for serenity. The seminary wants to tear down a four-story building and replace it with a 17-story one that will include residential space that will generate millions of dollars. Some neighbors are upset because the new building would be taller than historic district codes ordinarily allow, but seminary officials point out that the structure they want to tear down, which was constructed in 1960, is in desperate need of repair and is hardly historic. According to the seminary, the income that the new building would generate offers its only chance to pay for the preservation of the historic campus.
On Friday, the seminary submitted its plans to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which must determine whether the project is appropriate for the historic district. I hope the commission says yes, because as I see it, it's the only way to truly protect a place I've come to love.
Having first lived in Chelsea in the early 60's and in an apartment near the seminary since 1993, I literally stumbled on the campus quadrangles, known as the Close, several years ago. It is a beautiful secluded park that offers peace and spirituality in a busy, fast-growing neighborhood. "Law & Order" has used the seminary as a filming location, and I seek out the campus and the chapel whenever I can.
But sadly, the seminary's historic, landmark buildings, the earliest of which dates to 1836, are in urgent need of repair. Since 1999, the seminary has spent $9 million on preservation efforts, but experts estimate that $15 million to $20 million more is necessary immediately.
Unfortunately, some of the seminary's neighbors have fixated on one element of the seminary's overall preservation plan - the part that calls for the 17-story building on Ninth Avenue. No doubt their objections are well intended and spring from the desire to protect and preserve the historic character of the area. But this is exactly the goal of the seminary as well, and I believe the neighbors' opposition overlooks the role the new building will play in preserving the very heart of Chelsea.
The Chelsea neighborhood was literally formed around the seminary, which was originally an apple orchard deeded to the school in 1819 by Clement Clark Moore, who taught Hebrew and Greek to the seminarians (and, in his spare time, wrote "A Visit From St. Nicholas").
In the late 19th century, the wonderful Gothic Revival buildings of the present campus took shape under the guidance of Dean Eugene A. Hoffman. In the 1950's and 60's, when large stretches of Chelsea were being cleared for high-rise housing projects, the area immediately around the seminary was spared. This is precisely the part of the neighborhood that was later designated the historic district.
Simply because of its location, one of the structures included in the district is Sherrill Hall, an ugly, dilapidated, nonhistoric building on Ninth Avenue. In its place, the seminary wants to construct a building designed by a firm known for its sensitive blending of new and historic architecture. Built in partnership with a private developer, which will sell or rent the upper floors as residences, the new building will provide revenue for the seminary that will be earmarked, by law, for the preservation of its older, landmark buildings. This is money that the seminary cannot generate in any other way.
The choice is simple. If the seminary is allowed to proceed with its proposal, it will be able to continue rescuing the most beautiful and historic part of Chelsea. If the seminary is not allowed to proceed, it will have to raise millions of dollars to pour into repairing a broken, nonhistoric building - a diversion of energy and resources that will further threaten a campus already in dire condition.
So why would anyone oppose the seminary's plan? Only because the proposed building would be 17 stories tall. But this is - not at all by chance - the exact height of a building that stands on Ninth Avenue directly opposite the seminary. Such is the care that the seminary is taking to match its proposal to its immediate surroundings.
The seminary's goal is to preserve and protect into the indefinite future the beauty, history, quiet and, yes, the spirit, that has been at the heart of Chelsea's historic district from the start. The history, the buildings and the Close are inextricably linked. Their fate is inextricably connected to the fate of the whole neighborhood. If you accept that, as I do, then nothing would do more to preserve historic Chelsea than to allow the seminary to construct its new building.
Sam Waterston is an actor.

[lofter1]

The seminary claims the only alternative to this new building is to use the interior garden / courtyard as building space -- apparently they are in desperate need of money in order to maintain the existing structures.

Given the height of the 17 story building across 9th Ave. and the height of the housing projects to the south, this plan seems to be better than filling up the interior open space.

Although the decision will put the Landmark's Commission in a somewhat precarious position ...

[vc10]

I used to live near there, I don't see a problem with the plan.

The seminary claims the only alternative to this new building is to use the interior garden / courtyard as building space -- apparently they are in desperate need of money in order to maintain the existing structures.

Given the height of the 17 story building across 9th Ave. and the height of the housing projects to the south, this plan seems to be better than filling up the interior open space.

Although the decision will put the Landmark's Commission in a somewhat precarious position ...

[krulltime]

I don't like what is there now. So I don't mind this building and is glassy and interesting. Now those townhouses at the right are some of the cutest things on that area... I will not like anything to replace those.

[krulltime]

Here is the building in question...

[krulltime]

Rounded glass columns and a very ornate gate beckon buyers at 40 Bond





19-DEC-05

The sales office for a new 10-story residential condominium building at 40 Bond Street opened Friday and by early this morning five contracts had been entered into.

The buyers’ interest is not too surprising as the mid-block development promises to be one of the most stunning new projects the city has seen in several years.

The building has been designed by Herzog & de Meuron for Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen, who are also partners in the 50 Gramercy Park North development now under construction.

The Bond Street project will be distinguished by a rich dark-blue-green - "Coke bottle green" - glass façade with extruded rounded columns - recalling the 19th Century, cast-iron facades of many low-rise buildings in SoHo and NoHo, and by a metal first-floor gate that will be an abstract and highly intricate lace-like grill work that would make Antonio Gaudi, the legendary Art Nouveau architect of Barcelona, where the glass columns will be fabricated, smile, very broadly.

Herzog & de Meuron, who have won the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in architecture, are most famous for their redesign of a powerplant in London into the Tate Modern Museum, their plans for the main stadium for the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, a twisting structure for the de Young Museum in San Francisco and the mutli-faceted Prada Aoyama building in Tokyo.

In a mailing, Mr. Schrager notes that 40 Bond Street will be the architects’ "firstresidential project in America," adding that he considers "them to be the most brilliant architects working today." Mr. Schrager also said he is "taking the penthouse."

The building will have five 3-story "townhouse" units, each with about 3,750 square feet, fireplaces, gardens and 22-foot-high living rooms and front yards behind the very elaborate and impressive "gate." One-bedroom, two-bath apartments will have about 1,269 square feet and three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath apartments will have about 2,617 square feet. Floors four through seven will have four apartments a floor and the 8th, 9th and 10th floors will have two apartments a floor.

The building will have 31 units ranging in size from 1- to 3-bedrooms. All of the apartments other than the townhouse units will have 11-foot-high ceilings.

The lobby will have metal and Austrian oak paneling embossed with amorphous patterns.

The site, a former parking lot that has been cleared, is east of Lafayette Street in NoHo.

In 2003, Mr. Schrager had planned a hotel for this site with Richard Born and Ira Drucker, but changed plans for a 14-story, 65-unit residential building designed by Gary Handel.

Mr. Schrager was a partner with Steve Rubell in Studio 54, the legendary disco, and subsequently developed many well-known hotels such as the Royalton, the Paramount and the Hudson here and the Delano in Miami.

Mr. Rosen is a prominent developer who owns some of the city’s architectural masterpieces such as Lever House and the Seagram Building, both on Park Avenue.


Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY

[krulltime]

West Broadway project "certified" into public review process





19-DEC-05

The City Planning Commission today certified into ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Process) a 85-unit, mid-block, residential condominium project at 311 West Broadway in SoHo.

The project, which extends through the block to Wooster Street, is directly across West Broadway from the SoHo Grand Hotel, which is at the far right in the rendering at the right.

The developers, United American Land LLC of which Albert, Jason and Jody Laboz are principals, are seeking a special permit to ease setback and rear-yard zoning requirements for the site. A revised plan for the project has been approved by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission and it now calls for a 9-story building on West Broadway and a 8-story building on Wooster Street. The buildings will share a 55-foot-wide rear-yard in the middle of the block.

The site, now a parking lot, has 125 feet of frontage on West Broadway and 147 feet of frontage on Wooster Street. United American Land, which acquired the site recently from Moses Marx and recently built the Lyla condominium apartment building at 63 West 17th Street, has commissioned Gwathmey Siegel & Associates for this project. Gwathmey Siegel is the architectural firm of the sinuously curved tower at 445 Lafayette Street, now nearing completion.

The development is planned to have a 150-car underground garage.

Under ULURP, the project will now go to the local community board, the Borough President's office, and then back to the City Planning Commission.


Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY

[NYatKNIGHT]

^I've been wondering when this vacant lot would finally be developed and am anxious to see what Gwathmey Siegel has in store. I'm also glad that the parking will still be available and go underground.

[krulltime]

The Vintage Group plans three condo projects in Manhattan





20-DEC-05

The Vintage Group is converting two commercial properties to residential condominiums in Manhattan and is also planning to erect a new residential condominium building in midtown.

Sam Suzuki of The Vintage Group told CityRealty.com today that the new building will be at 5 East 44th Street, a site now occupied by a vacant six-story, red-brick commercial building, shown at the right.

The new building will be 20 stories high and have 23 loft apartments. It is being designed by Alan Ritchie of The Office of Philip Johnson. It is two doors from the Art Deco skyscraper at 535 Fifth Avenue, immediately adjacent to 11 East 44th Street, which has J. Press as its major retail tenant, and it is across the street from the Cornell Club. Brooks Brothers is on the same block and Grand Central Station and the MetLife Building are one-and-and-a-half blocks to the east.

The building is due to be finished in March, 2007, Mr. Suzuki said.

At 135 West 14th Street, his company is converting a former 8-story commercial building to a 10-story residential loft condominium with 9 units. William Brothers is the architect for that project.

The third project is the conversion of the 12-story commercial building at 140 West 22nd Street in Chelsea. Steve Alton is the architect for the conversion that will create 43 residential condominiums. It is due for occupancy in June, 2007. The property was bought for about $27 million recently from Broadway 41st Street Realty Corporation by the Vintage Group and Cronus Capital, according to Adelaide Polsinelli of Besen & Associates, the broker in the transaction.


Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY

[krulltime]

Apple Bank building on Broadway will have 27 condo apartments




29-DEC-05

The landmark, 8-story, limestone-clad, Apple Bank for Savings Building that occupies the full block between 73rd and 74th Streets, Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue is now behind construction shrouds.

CityRealty.Com today cane across a Department of Buildings permit that indicates that the top four floors of the building will be converted to 27 condominium apartments.

The huge and very impressive four-story high banking hall at the base of the building will not be altered in the conversion of the building’s upper floors that until recently were used as offices.

The bank has its main entrance in the middle of its frontage on Broadway and also on 73rd Street facing Verdi Square. The residential portion of the building will have an entrance at 2112 Broadway, which is close to 74th Street.

Stahl Real Estate, the owners of the property recently presented plans to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to make minor changes to an exit on 74th Street that will be used as a second means of egress for the condominium apartments. The solution proposed was to leave the west side of the very handsome gates in place and to leave permanently open the east side and install a glass “panic” door with push-bar just inside the entrance.

The landmark building was built in 1928 for the Central Savings Bank that formerly was located at 14th Street and Fourth Avenue. It was designed by York & Sawyer in the same monumental, Italian Renaissance-palazzo style the architects employed at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building in Lower Manhattan. The bank was founded in 1859 as the German Savings Bank in the City of New York and changed its name to the Central Savings Bank during World War I and subsequently it became the Apple Bank. The bank continues to operate within the building’s vast and spectacular vaulted banking hall – one of the city’s most impressive interior spaces which is a designated interior landmark.

The building commands one of the few prominent “key” sites in Manhattan at the intersection of two avenues such as the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street and the former site of the Herald Tribune at 35th Street between Broadway and The Avenue of the Americas and the former Times Tower at 43rd Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue.

The building was described by Elliot Willensky and Norval White in “The A.I.A. Guide to New York City Architecture, Fourth Edition,” (Three Rivers Press, 2000), as “one of the area’s noblest and most imposing edifices.”

An attempt by CityRealty.Com today to reach James Farley of Stahl Real Estate to ask about the project’s timetable was unsuccessful.


Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY

[krulltime]

East Village development site acquired


29-DEC-05

Magnum Management has acquired a development site at 421-433 East 13th Street and is demolishing a two-story garage there in preparation for construction of an 8-story building with 92 apartments.

The property was acquired for $19,763,000, or about $295 a square foot, and preliminary designs have demonstrated the feasibility of a 89,023 square foot structure that uses more than 20,000 square feet of development rights that Magnum also acquired.

“The East Village has seen a surge in demand for high-end residential property and condos alike,” said Massey Knakal Partner James Nelson, who exclusively represented the seller, Time Equities Inc., with Broker Michael Soleimani.

The midblock site is between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village.

Mr. Nelson told CityRealty.Com today that the project will be “as-of-right,” that is, within existing zoning and building regulations.

Attempts by CityRealty.Com to reach Rob Kaliner of Magnum Management for information about the new building’s design and building type were unsuccessful.


Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY