LuxuryBlurb
Posts Tagged ‘The Highline Park’
Wednesday, June 13th, 2012
 Posted on June 13th, 2012
Matt Amico reports that another apartment has sold for a record price at The Caledonia, located at 450 West 17th Street, the full service, Taconic/Related-developed building in West Chelsea abutting the Highline Park.
Closed for $ 5,35 million (that’s over $ 2,400/sf) this sale proves yet again how the high-floor mega-view units at The Caledonia trade at a premium, setting pricing records even when compared to more ‘big-name’ buildings with river and park frontage and more daring architecture. Why is this? Is it the true full services delivered? Is it the West Chelsea location that also benefits from close proximity to subways, the Meat-packing District, Chelsea market and the Hudson River Park? Is it the parking? It’s walking distance to the GOOGLE offices?
“Maybe it’s all of the above,” says Matt Amico, a Vice President of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Luxuryloft team member and building specialist who also is a building resident. “Views, location and quality of services always produce a premium: this apartment had it all.”
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
 Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 9th, 2012
CVS is coming to the corner of Tenth Avenue and 23rd Street in the new Sam Zell rental building. This ends rumors that a Citarella was coming. While a CVS is certainly not a Citarella, I do think its addition to the neighborhood is extremely useful: Right now West Chelsea residents have to walk quite a distance for a CVS-type store…..and those visiting the HIGHLINE PARK will find it even more useful. Thankfully Forrager’s came to 22nd Street and Eighth Avenue!
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
 Posted by Leonard Steinberg on September 29th, 2011
Have you walked the HIGHLINE PARK by 245 Tenth Avenue recently? If so, you will see a light installation called REMOTE NATION by artist Kevin Cooley that is really rather exceptional. All West facing windows overlooking The Higline Park emanate light transmitted by dozens of televisions placed in the units in the building. The exhibit continues through to the end of October, 2011.
245 Tenth Avenue is a brand new, stainless steel clad condominium cantilevered over the Higline Park. See: www.245tenth.com Units range in size from 2,400sf two bedroom, three bathroom units to a 3,000sf+ duplex penthouse. Prices start around $ 1,5 million.
Sunday, August 21st, 2011
 Posted on August 21st, 2011
The new EQUITY/Sam Zell rental building at 500 West 23rd Street may be bringing a worthy counter-balance to its rather mundane architecture to the West Chelsea neighborhood: rumor on the street is the ’ultimate gourmet market’ Citarella may be the new street level retail tenant. With 5 locations currently in Manhattan and the Hampton’s, Citarella would certainly be a very welcome addition to the neighborhood, prefectly positioned amongst hundreds of brand new high end condominiums whose owners would certainly be thrilled with an alternative to the insultingly dirty, over-priced Gristede’s located on Tenth Avenue and 24th Street. This location would benefit equally by the thousands of visitors drawn to the Highline Park: a prime entrance is located in front of 500 West 23rd Street…..add to this the throngs of locals and tourists headed towards Chelsea Piers and the Hudson River Park.
Leonard Steinberg says: “Lets hope this rumor is indeed true: it would be great for this neighborhood!”
Friday, July 15th, 2011
 Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 15, 2011
The question arose this week (and many times before) about the future of West Chelsea as an Arts Center: will West Chelsea go the way of Soho? Will Gagosian become the Gap? Will Prada replace Paula Cooper? Chanel replace Cheim & Reid?
“The biggest difference between Soho’s evolution into a high fashion retail environment and West Chelsea to-day is the fact that now most galleries own their space and don’t rent,” says Matt Amico, a West Chelsea resident and a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker. “When I moved into the Caledonia (450 West 17th Street)it was a brand new construction building: Alternatively, had I moved into Soho years ago, I probably would have replaced an artist.”
Soho artists did own many of the lofts that they moved from, mostly because they had bought them for next to nothing years ago: subsequently they have left behind a huge mess with the AIR program and walked away with huge, often retirement-fund-sized profits (well deserved, as they pioneered the area and transformed many derelict buildings into habitable homes and studios). West Chelsea is very different as the focus is not so much artists as it is galleries….and these (often highly profitable) galleries own their space this time: In Soho most were renting their retail/commercial space.
Another huge value to anyone in commerce is the high concentration of an industry: With about 350 art galleries concentrated within just a few blocks, the ability to lure potential art buyers is so much greater than being spread around the city, or worse, outside of the City removed from easy access. “The experience of visiting West Chelsea is now further enhanced by the fact that the recently opened Highline Park extension acts as a connector between West Chelsea’s arts district and the Meatpacking District, a thriving retail environment: so the area combines everything that Soho was 15 years ago with what it is to-day.”
The Highline Park, the new Avenue’s School, new restaurants, amenities and services combined with the Hudson River Park to the West add fuel to West Chelsea’s fire. When the subway stop is added to Eleventh Avenue and 34th Street, the northern end of the Arts District will be connected to Times Square via a 5 minute subway ride. Add to this a substantial volume of construction planned for the Hudson Yards area, diminishes the urgency to vacate current art gallery spaces to convert them or tear them down for residential use. There are still many vacant/commercial, non-art gallery building sites in West Chelsea to satisfy developers for several years. Walking on the Highline Park the other night amongst a very civilized group of calmer, more elegantly dispositioned New Yorkers, you actually saw the realization of this amazing neighborhood transformation: illuminated landscaping bracketed by exceptional new buildings that arch over the park such as the two stainless steel clad HL23 and 245 Tenth Avenue …..and in the distance a host of interesting new building mixed in with the older residential and commercial structures….and one day soon all this will terminate at a brand new Whitney Museum….
So my conclusion is that the unique flavor that has been created in West Chelsea is here to stay, for at least the next 10 years, and possibly much longer. Remember the entire area was re-zoned too to prevent a big mess, so maybe this is one area that will serve as a textbook case study for responsible development?
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
 Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 21, 2011
We have heard through the grapevine that a non-penthouse, full floor unit at HL-23, the Neil Denari designed building that hovers over the Highline Park at 23rd Street in West Chelsea, just went to contract for over $ 2,600/sf without any outdoor space…..that would have to be a record for the area for sure, if not all of New York real estate pricing. It is further proof that the area soon to be connected to the West Village and Meatpacking District via the Highline Park, surrounded by the world’s leading contemporary art galleries and soon to have one of the city’s top private schools (AVENUES) has arrived.
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
 Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 26, 2011
This is our first critique of a building…..Last week Jamestown Properties made a presentation to Community Board 4 showcasing the proposed addition to the rooftop of Chelsea Market which involved an additional 90,000sf for a boutique hotel and about 250,000sf for office space. While I think it is generally unfair to critique anything till it is fully built, this building design caught my attention and I could not remain silent.
It is obvious that the developer has asked for much more square footage than he expects to get (a tactic used by most developers) as this procedure was part of requesting additional buildiable square footage not currently allowable in the FAR and zoning. While most will think I am writing this because of the scale of the building alone, let me stop you immediately. It is true that an addition this size is probably inappropriate for this location, and that yes, it will block the views of some apartments at The Caledonia that are currently getting record-breaking pricing because of their views (although the building and location are so strong, I would doubt they de-value much). I believe in change, and building big buildings in a city like New York, even in West Chelsea, even close to the Highline Park. I want to address the lousy design.
Studios Architecture came up with this mess, and what a mess it is: In its horrific attempts at being contextual, the end result is a design so vulgar that it rates as one of the worst messes we have seen in a long time. The combination of 101 Warren-esque facade intertwined with a flat glass Trump-Soho-esque growth atop a somewhat-Hearst-esque base all piled on top of a classic brick warehouse has to be one of the worst ‘designer’ attempts I have seen in quite a while. So instead of arguing how to improve this design, I suggest starting from scratch. This is a mess, pure and simple.
My suggestion to the developers: Take another look at the neighborhood and see what works and what does not. If you want to be bold and daring and modernist, that could work, but only if its done the right way. With authorative style and conviction. If you want to be contextual, maybe its time for a walk around the neighborhood to understand what it really looks like.
The lousy design of additions on top of beautiful buildings (although the base building here does not really qualify….its just OK at best)is a bad tradition in Manhattan real estate that has to end. Think of all the hideous stucco/plasticy/bad-glassy penthouses built on top of beautiful buildings around the city, when if removed from the building and placed in a suburban setting would qualify as trailer-park architecture at best. This building’s addition is not the first culprit. Good design can add value not only to the neighborhood, but also to the development itself.
Back to the drawing boards!
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Mary 
Steven 
According to the National Taxpayers Union, about 30% of properties in the U.S. are assessed at higher values than they are really worth. That means their owners pay inflated property tax bills while other taxpayers in their towns reap the benefits.