August has been a slower New Development month, so I’ll give
shouts out to two very different developments I visited:
YIMBY, one of my favorite sites, has a nice shot of ongoing construction.
I visited the 135 West 52nd Street sales office,
in the base of the building, showing off kitchen, baths, and finishes.
Sometimes a sales office is able to create a very strong sense of what an apartment will feel like.
Here, I wasn’t entirely sure I got a full sense.
This building seems very much geared to someone who wants to be in the middle of everything – life in the city – and perhaps
isn’t using the property as a full-time residence.
Convenient access to everything Gotham.
Building rules seem geared to the itinerant, allowing for as
short as 3 month rentals.
The apartments themselves will be glamorous and well-proportioned,
and enough will be smaller to cater to pied-a-terre users,
while others will be
rather large full- and half-floor units at the top of the building.
The views are not really about anything but city, city, city.
And so, I’m left with a curiosity about how this will sell to anyone other than an investor class and pied-a-terre audience.
I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the finishes, which certainly lean contemporary, nor the quality of construction.
Even the location,
considering the knockout success Stella Tower, seems reasonable at 52nd and 7th.
But to me, it does not stand out, either.
In a more inventory-rich environment, I could see it being less successful, but I’m sure it will find many, many takers!
And Uptown we go!
1110 Park avenue, with only 9 units, is almost as exclusive as it gets, townhouses aside.
Toll Brothers has built an absolutely stunning project here.
While it’s certainly offended neighbors at 1112 Park, who lost kitchen windows and light, it will likely
otherwise be a massive, runaway hit.
The proportions of the rooms and
the build-out of the kitchens and baths
certainly fit within the “transitional” mode of style, but executed well, with a exquisite sense of quality and design.
Huge kitchens, extraordinary baths, of which I have photo to share, great ceiling height, stunning layouts.
I could go on, and thanks!
I will.
I haven’t felt this excellent sense of “Wow, this will be very successful,” since I walked into Walker Tower for the first time.
It makes total sense.
I’m glad that I’m not required to disparage buildings, or some percentage of them.
Really, it’s not that the design reinvents anything, but it executes perfectly what this level of buyer wants.
And that’s a big accomplishment.
I’ll leave it at that.
August is meant to get to the point.
We have lots of relaxing to do, right?
Have a great end of summer!