Though 2016 saw a slowdown for luxury sales and rentals, we are still seeing a new crop of high-end apartments popping up throughout the city. Developers are enlisting tactics such as eco-friendly building, the option for smaller square footage (and thus lower prices), and sometimes eschewing rentals entirely in order to entice potential customers. Here’s a look at the latest in real estate development across all five boroughs.
Manhattan
40 East End Avenue
Developer Lightstone recently announced the closing of an $85.3 million loan for a boutique condominium on the Upper East Side. The 18-story building will house 29 residences including two, three, and four bedroom homes along with duplex and full floor residences. Amenities will include a private porte-cochère and car park, library, catering kitchen, and a full-time doorman. Deborah Berke, the recently appointed Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, will be the project’s creative director with Gerner Kronich + Valcarcel, Architects working with her.
One Wall Street
Macklowe Properties got approval from the city Landmark’s Commission to convert the historic Art Deco skyscraper at One Wall Street into a residential and retail building. Curbed NY reports that Whole Foods has signed on for 44,000 square feet of the retail space, and there are two more spots available to date. As a departure from the overabundance of luxury real estate in the Financial District, units at One Wall Street will ask about 10 percent less than the average for the area, and the focus will be on condos rather than rentals. Macklowe told Bloomberg that condos in the lower part of the tower will ask $2,000 to $2,500 per square foot and those in the upper third of the building will be priced at $2,800 to $3,000 per square foot.
121 East 22nd Street
Rem Koolhaas’ architecture firm OMA is well on its way to completing its first ground-up project in NYC at 121 East 22nd Street. Designed by OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu, the 18 story condo will contain 133 units ranging from studios to five-bedroom apartments. Though the Toll Brothers-built tower is in the first stages of construction, sales launched in January. Unit prices range from $1.5M for a 761 SF one-bedroom to $5.315M for a 2,402 SF three-bedroom. Amenities will include an indoor pool, roof terrace, children’s playroom, and a fitness center. Brooklyn
1 Brooklyn Bay
Muss Development and AvalonBay are collaborating on this 30-story residential tower at 1501 Voorhies Avenue, near the Sheepshead Bay B/Q station. While a 30-story building would hardly seem like news among the supertall towers shooting up in Manhattan, this development will be four times taller than anything else in Sheepshead Bay. The building will house 232 condo and rental units and 15,000 square feet of commercial space. Residences will be a mix of one to four bedrooms, with two penthouses at the top of the building. Amenities will include a playroom, fitness center, 166 parking spaces, and outdoor recreation space with a swimming pool. Pricing has not yet been announced, but sales are expected to launch this spring, with construction set to finish in 2018.
The Greenpoint
Façade installation began in February on this 39-story building which is expected to be complete in 2018. Ismael Leyva Archictects is behind the design of this project, located at 21 India Street on the East River. The building will have 500 residential units spread across 454,502 square feet, averaging over 900 square feet per unit. The ground floors will have 8,678 square feet of commercial space, along with 3,802 square feet for an urgent care center. There will be a pool, space for 257 parking spots, and proximity to a ferry stop will provide convenient access to Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Long Island City. YIMBY reports that 21 India Street will soon stand among Greenpoint Landing, a group of towers that will bring 5,500 more residential units to the area.
Homage on Third
A new condo is set to replace a dilapidated brownstone at 497 Third Street in Park Slope, and developer Bryan Hernandez of Kaito Management says the aptly named Homage on Third will incorporate Renaissance revival design elements in keeping with the rest of the block. Architecture firm Studio Vural is designing the six-story building which will get a limestone brick façade, custom metalwork and windows, and commercial space on the ground floor. DNAinfo reports that the apartments on the second, third, and fourth floors will be full-floor two bedroom apartments at 1,088 square feet, and the fifth and sixth floors will be a three-bedroom duplex. Each apartment will have a balcony and roof access, and the duplex will have a private roof deck. Queens
44-28 Purves Street, Long Island City
One of the newest towers to top out over Long Island City is an eco-friendly complex aiming for silver LEED certification. Designed by FXFOWLE, an architecture firm specializing in green building, and developed by Brause Realty and Gotham Organization, this 38-story rental building will be called The Forge. Earlier reports from Curbed NY detailed a mix of market-rate one and two bedroom apartments, designed according to principles of feng shui, which will enjoy a roof deck, 50-foot lap pool, landscaped courtyard, and an outdoor movie screen. Construction is nearly complete and the official Forge website says rentals will launch this summer.
22-44 Jackson Avenue
Replacing the historic 5 Pointz site in Long Island City will be a two-towered mixed-use development at 22-44 Jackson Avenue developed by G&M Realty and designed by HTO Architect. The complex will boast 1,209,884 square feet in total, with 39,765 square feet dedicated to commercial space on the ground and basement levels. Residential units will average 876 square feet across a total of 1,115 apartments. Curbed NY reports that construction is well underway, and the project is expected to reach completion at the end of this year or in early 2018. The Bronx
NYPD’s 40th Police Precinct
Renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels will design the NYPD’s 40th Police Precinct building in the South Bronx. The three-story building will include a courtyard (to be used for training), a green roof, and a community meeting room to encourage civic engagement. The city is spending $50 million on this project, which is designed to look like a stack of bricks and, in keeping with Ingels’ other designs, will allow plenty of natural light into the building. Once construction is complete, the building will be considered for LEED silver certification. Staten Island
125 Edgewater Street
There hasn’t been a ton of real estate news coming out of Staten Island as of late, but developer V Capital Management might be changing that soon. YIMBY reports that plans have been filed for a three-building complex along the eastern shore of Staten Island, which could bring 371 or 396 apartments to the area, depending on which of the developer’s plans is approved. The tallest building would top out at 13 stories, with the other two sitting at 12 and six stories, respectively. The complex would also create a 60,000 square foot public waterfront walkway, bringing some much-needed revitalization to this mostly industrial area. If the project is approved, construction will begin in the fall and finish by the end of 2019.
With some of these projects nearing completion, we can expect to see some changes in the New York skyline in the coming months. It will also be interesting to see how areas like Sheepshead Bay and Staten Island’s eastern shore will be changed by new developments.
