Triple Mint

Condo Reviews in Brief

• William Beaver House condo - 15 William Street
• Chelsea Stratus - 101 West 24th Street
• Gramercy Starck - 340 East 23rd Street
• Sheffield 57 - 322 West 57th Street
• The Visionaire - Battery Park City
• Platinum - 247 West 46th Street

Above is just a partial list of some of the larger new condominium projects being built or converted in Manhattan. Combined the above represents well over a thousand new apartments set to hit the market. A lot of people write in to ask why we don't write about this or that new condo. The truth is few if any of them are at all ambitious in terms of architecture and design. Still, there is an overall collective effect on the cityscape that is worth noting. After the jump a bit more on some of these projects for the sake of recording this frenzied moment in New York's development history. We may update this list now and then so it will be suitable for a time capsule. As Gore Vidal once wrote of a different city "one day these may make great ruins."

520 West Chelsea - 520 West 19th Street

We recently checked on which of the pending condo developments are actually getting built along the High Line in Manhattan's West Chelsea neighborhood. Two notable projects have already broken ground. One is the large mixed-use Caledonia designed by Gary Handel. Another, which we take note of here, is the latest from Selldorf Architects--a mid-block apartment house of medium size at 520 West 19th Street just east of Frank Gehry's IAC headquarters (terraced unit above). More after the jump...

Tribeca Lofts at 414 & 415 Washington Street

Architect Joseph Pell Lombardi has designed a pair of new condominium buildings planned for opposite sides of Washington Street between Vestry and Laight Streets in the Tribeca North Historic District. His faithfully contextual design of red brick with arched windows make these loft condos seem, to the untrained eye at least, like manufacturing buildings of the nineteenth century. 414 Washington Street will have 15 lofts while the larger 415 Washington Street will have 26 units. Steel canopies over raised platforms (think loading docks) will add to the historical allusion. Each building will be six stories tall with two setback stories. Lombardi has a strong track record of delivering the kind of sensitive and accurate designs that landmark committees and preservationists (not to mention downtown loft buyers) love. More about Tribeca's back-to-the-future lofts after the jump...

Zinc Building - Tribeca

The long vacant triangular plot at 475 Greenwich Street in Tribeca is finally being developed by Douglaston Development as the Zinc Building. Construction began recently on this seven-story 21 unit condominium we first wrote about last year. The glassy free-standing structure at Greenwich and Canal Streets (left) was designed by Greenberg Farrow architects. More details after the jump...

(Rendering by Hypertecture.)

240 Park Avenue South - Gwathmey Update

In the wake of the public reception (friendly and otherwise) of their Astor Place "Sculpture for Living" condo at 445 Lafayette Street, Gwathmey Siegel have a number of noteworthy residential projects in the works around New York. At right is a rendering of their Gramercy/Union Square area condominium now going up at 240 Park Avenue South. The 17-story tower at the northwest corner of 19th Street is being developed by Yitzchak Tessler and will have 52 loft style apartments with 11-foot ceilings. Four penthouses will have 18-foot ceilings. The limestone clad apartment tower will have a curved corner for views down the avenue. Windows will be large multi-pane squares that echo the surrounding pre-war commercial buildings. After the jump, an update on more in the works from Gwathmey Siegel in SoHo, Chelsea, and lower Manhattan.

Jade by Jagger 16 West 19th Street

How do you shoehorn 57 loft apartments into a 12-story mid-block building in the Flatiron district? YOO, a partnership of jewelry designer Jade Jagger (daughter of Mick and Bianca), John Hitchcox and Philippe Starck have teamed up to present a super-efficient solution: free standing "pods" which will maximize living space by containing kitchen, bath, and storage--all discreetly hidden behind shiny lacquered doors. After the jump we take a closer look.

Atelier Condos 627 West 42nd

Manhattan's 42nd Street has seen much change over the last two decades. The latest chapter is the expansion of a residential corridor west of Times Square. The projects in this area tend to be large and the street life is still very much a work in progress. But Extel's glassy Orion condominium has proved that there is a demand for new apartments with modern amenities in this location. Following on the heels of the Orion (where a number of units are still available) comes the Atelier condo at 627 West 42nd. Above is an image of the sky-lit pool. More details on Atelier after the jump.

One Ten Third - 110 Third Avenue

Last month brought news of the arrival of mega builder Toll Brothers onto our fair New York City shores. Rather than try to copy traditional styles and give us more dull piles of bricks, they have smartly assessed the relative sophistication of the local market and given us something a little more forward looking. The renderings for their condo apartment tower at 110 Third Avenue (to be called One Ten Third) first appeared on New York Times reporter Lisa Chamberlain's blog Polis. Comprising 77 one to three bedroom apartments, the project will have separate private roof spaces that will be for sale to unit owners. The design by Greenberg Farrow architects employs a glass curtain wall with alternating light and dark panels that will, to the casual eye, give the illusion of a random window pattern (detail above). What this accomplishes is a sense of rhythm and texture to an otherwise flat surface. You can see a similar alternating technique used in the new apartment house at 304 Spring Street in SoHo, as well as at the much praised and highly influential Porterhouse condo in the meatpacking district.

Sky House Condo

We've been watching this project ever since our friends at Curbed scored the original scoop about this extremely tall and narrow apartment tower in the Manhattan neighborhood that developers are now calling "Madison Square North." Sky House, a 139 unit condominium at 11 East 29th Street, is a Clarett Group project designed by the firm of Fxfowle. The slender 55 story tower will have just three apartments per floor. Its height-to-width ratio reminds us of the Metropolitan apartment tower on West 57th Street. Reflecting a new turn toward smaller, more saleable units (as the New York condo market cools a bit), the mix here will be mostly one and two bedroom apartments. More on the design and the neighborhood after the jump.

(Rendering by Hypertecture.)

101 Warren - TriBeCa

Among the big competing TriBeCa condo projects 200 Chambers may have had a head start, but its neighbor just to the south at 101 Warren Street is actually shaping up as the more interesting property--suggesting once again that good things come to those who wait. The risk with buying into new development is that something better might just come along right as you've scheduled your closing. Drat! Click the jump to take a look inside a large mixed-use condo and rental apartment tower designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, featuring Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, and a grove of pine trees in the middle of New York.