The real estate issue
One Highline, Bess Freedman, One Wall Street, Jonathan Miller, Claremont Hall, Leonard Steinberg, 50 West 66th Street
Among the things we are most grateful for this holiday season: NYC real estate, the gift that never stops giving. Below, a handful of notable developments and personalities we featured during this rate-defying, back-from-the-pandemic-depths, if-you-convert-it-they-will-come year. More here, and much more in 2024.
REAL ESTATE • FOUND Development
At One High Line, take the good, take the bad
One High Line, one of the final new developments to complete the landlocking of the High Line, is actually two twisting towers, dubbed East and West. Designed by Bjarke Ingels, it sits in a starchitects’ murders’ row alongside 100 11th Avenue (Jean Nouvel) and the IAC Building (Frank Gehry).
Inside, there are 236 apartments and the first NYC outpost of Miami’s Faena Hotel, opening late 2023. Asking prices on the apartments range from $2 million to over $30 million, a large spread. And because it’s designed by a starchitect, the various twists in the design mean that some floors and units end up with, mmm, unusual angles. NB: bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better.
“What you need to know about this building,” a source told FOUND, “is that there are great $7 million apartments with incredible views, and really bad $17 million apartments. You have to know what you’re looking at.” Should you find yourself in the market, make haste for the river-adjacent West tower. Closings are set to begin this summer.
One buyer this week knew what they liked, inking a deal in the building for $28 million.
One High Line WEST-PH34A (Chelsea, above) 5BR/5.5BA, 5471 SF. In contract: 4/27/23. Closing price: $28M. Common charges $10,226. Listing broker: Corcoran.
One High Line EAST-21G (Chelsea), 1BR/1.5BA, 886 SF. In contract: 5/1/23. Closing price: $2.585M. Common charges $1482. Listing broker: Corcoran.
This post originally ran on 05/05/23.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
‘I don’t believe in WFH’
BESS FREEDMAN, CEO, Brown Harris Stevens
Neighborhood you work in: Midtown East
It’s Tuesday morning, where are you working?
I'm in my office at 445 Park Avenue. I don’t believe in WFH — I despise it. Real estate is a relationship business, and to build strong relationships, it helps to be in person. I also think it's nearly impossible to build culture over Zoom calls.
What’s the Tuesday morning scene at your workplace?
As soon as I get to the office, I make a cup of coffee, and read the papers. The morning scene is fairly chaotic. Lots of phone calls, some Zooms, a few in-person meetings. Arriving around 8 allows me a little time to prepare. I like to walk the halls to see who's in, so I usually do that when I get a break from my schedule. I love seeing people in person… catching up, sharing a story, a hug, connecting. It’s why I do what I do — the people!
What’s for lunch?
Today I have lunch with an agent at Bilboquet. I love it there, because it's fast (and good). I LOVE their French fries, and they have great salads, and fresh fish. Also, the staff is impeccable... Incredible service.
Any plans tonight?
Tonight I'm going to Sandro's on East 86th to sit at the bar and have dinner with some friends. I've been going there since my kids were little. Love the lemon pasta. And a family-owned business… Solid people, and delicious food. I also love Raoul’s, in Soho. Dover sole, fries, great dessert. It’s a cool spot with high vibes. Feels very New York.
This post originally ran on 06/27/23.
REAL ESTATE • FOUND Development
One Wall Street: It's better at the top
One Wall Street, the largest office-to-condo conversion to date in New York City, carries all the hallmarks of the city’s new luxury buildings — a top-to-bottom redo by a name developer (Harry Macklowe), a private residents club, a 75-foot pool with sweeping views. But it’s not a building reserved for the super-rich, at least not by local standards. A large number of studios and one- and two-bedrooms, particularly in the darker, lower half of the building, are selling in the low millions.
But up where the skies open, towards the narrower top of the Art Deco building — which was first constructed 100 years ago, as a bank — there are some pricier gems to be had. Consider #3301, which closed earlier this month for $6.15 million. Due to the contour of the building and the setbacks, the apartment features a uniquely shaped great room, with terraces on its east and west. Further up, on the 41st floor, #4101 offers the above party-ready patio, plus 3BR/3BA, for $10.5 million.
→ One Wall Street (Financial District), Compass Development Marketing Group.
This post originally ran on 06/23/23.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
Taking stock of the real estate market
JONATHAN MILLER, president & CEO, Miller Samuel
Neighborhood you work in: Midtown West
It’s Tuesday morning, where are you working?
I'm camping out at my office in our Ridgefield, Connecticut home (built in 1755). It's 30 minutes further from the city than our previous home, a consistent one-hour commute. Since the pandemic, I have usually ventured into the city on Wednesdays and Thursdays by commuter rail. Going in only two days a week makes the 90-minute commute tolerable.
What’s the Tuesday morning scene at your workplace?
Getting ready to Zoom (above)! Seemingly half my day. I have identical equipment in my home office as in Midtown: a big monitor, boom mic, lighting, keyboard, and mouse. So I travel back and forth with my laptop and plug in.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Today, I’m reviewing and editing the final proofs for the Thursday publication of seven second-quarter market reports for Douglas Elliman (including the Hamptons and Los Angeles). I usually start working on my weekly Friday newsletter, Housing Notes, which is chock full of housing market data and insights. And I’m finishing the 3-hour lecture I deliver on Thursdays for the 120 Columbia grad students taking my market analysis course. (It’s full of dad jokes and market information.)
What’s for lunch?
When I work at home, I always have lunch in town with my wife. Today will be Bobo’s Cafe, one of our favorite lunch spots. It’s always packed.
Any plans tonight?
One of the benefits of being a new empty-nester is trying new places for dinner in the area all the time. We’ll probably head to Posa for Italian food or 850 for some really good pizza. On Friday we were thinking of connecting with friends at Luc’s Cafe, one of the best restaurants around.
This post originally ran on 08/01/23.
REAL ESTATE • FOUND Development
Town meets gown in Morningside Heights
Here is Claremont Hall, a polished, 41-story, 165-unit condo tower designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, nearing completion in studious Morningside Heights. Stern, known for bringing classical panache to otherwise thoroughly modern apartment buildings (see: 15 Central Park West), got to play with two nearby references here: the nearby Riverside Church and the Union Theological Seminary, to which the tower is conjoined. Indeed, the project is a mixed-use development borne of a collaboration between the (Columbia-affiliated) Seminary and the developer, Lendlease, who paid $60 million for the air rights in 2017.
Four of the building’s apartments went into contract in the past week, per Marketproof, including #36A, a 3BR/3.5BA condo asking $4.995M. Of the tower’s three penthouses, #PH41, a 4BR/4BA with a long terrace fronting the Hudson River closed earlier this year having asked $10.25M. Residency is set for this fall, salvation not included.
→ Claremont Hall (Morningside Heights), 100 Claremont Ave., Developer: Lendlease, Sales: Corcoran Sunshine.
This post originally ran on 08/04/23.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
I do ‘WFE’ — work from everywhere
LEONARD STEINBERG, chief evangelist / corporate broker, COMPASS
Neighborhood you work in: Flatiron
It’s Tuesday morning, where are you working?
I do "WFE" — work from everywhere: home, office, on the road and in the air! Real estate never sleeps. Here I am in my COMPASS office at 111 Fifth Avenue, across from the new Microsoft offices (above). I still love the office best, with its herringbone oak floors and steel framed glass dividers and views over historic Ladies Mile of the Flatiron District.
What’s the Tuesday morning scene at your workplace?
The office is rather quiet on a Tuesday morning as most agents get the day started with previews and showings. Every day's schedule differs, though, and remains unpredictable throughout the day as appointments shift around.
What’s on the agenda for today?
I start early — around 5am — with my daily morning memo to the COMPASS family and extended family (about 50,000 recipients). Then I check overnight email and texts. At 10am I have a team meeting. Today includes a marketing meeting for 33 Park Row, and a meeting for a new Greenwich Village building with SLATE with interiors by Nate Berkus that makes me weak, it's going to be so beautiful! I also have three showings, as I dedicate over 90% of my day to brokerage.
What’s for lunch?
I love eating LOTS. Lunch is essential but not always easy when running around the city. I love the crab toast from ABC Kitchen, the Buffalo chicken bowl from THE WELL, the lentil soup from Pret-a-Manger. Papardelle al fughi from Eataly is a guilty pleasure.
Any plans tonight?
Tonight is a 'family' birthday dinner at Añejo in Tribeca with two of my favorite people: Aimee Scher and her 15-year-old superstar son Hudson.
This post originally ran on 07/25/23.
REAL ESTATE • FOUND Development
A chiseled midsection on the Upper West Side
Currently rising between Lincoln Center and Central Park, Extell’s 50 West 66th Street will be the tallest building on the Upper West Side when it’s completed sometime in 2024 or 2025 — and not without controversy. Back in the go-go pre-pandemic days, the building’s construction got hung up when the city attempted to stop developers from building taller, by inserting huge mechanical floors (which don’t count against zoning rules). In the end, Extell won, and 50 West 66th will rise 69 stories and contain 127 condo units when completed.
The design is by starchitecture firm Snøhetta, with inspiration from the “chiseled stone of Manhattan’s geologic legacy.” In practice, the building splits as it rises, allowing for a gorgeous shared terrace on the 16th floor (above). Other amenities include an outdoor salt water pool and tennis/pickleball courts.
Extell has opted to market the development quietly via floorplans, with no flashy website. Deals are getting done: in March, #3D, a 5BR/5.5BA apartment with an 880 SF terrace, asking $12.025M; in January, #48S, a 4BR with Central Park views asking $22.75M; and, back in December 2022, combined units #47S-#47N for the total price of $45.5M, to name three contracts reported by Olshan. Rock on.
→ 50 West 66th Street (Upper West Side), Developer: Extell.
This post originally ran on 06/30/23.