Blackhouse Development has secured a deal to borrow over $82 million to finance two new ultra-luxe developments on West 29th Street in Chelsea.
The first project, an 11-story, 27-unit condominium development at 522 West 29th Street, is to be financed via a $70 million loan from California-based East West Bank. Blackhouse is partnering with Oriel, based in Singapore, to build the property. Blackhouse is also the developer of the Hotel Americano.
The 100,000-square-foot project will feature 20-foot ceilings, large windows and a swimming pool in every unit. The developer told Crain’s that this is a first for a residential project in New York City.
For a second 17,000-square-foot project at 534 West 29th Street, Blackhouse secured $12 million from Valley National Bank. The smaller, separate condominium building, dubbed Casa Bella Artes, will be 10 stories and have six duplex homes.
“When we started in this neighborhood, the High Line was not open and we had to struggle to convince lenders to back projects here,” Sean Ludwick, a managing partner and founder of Blackhouse, told Crain’s. “Now the demographic is well-heeled people and the creative class and everyone is racing to build here.”
The developer’s foray into the neighborhood began in 2007 with plans for the Hotel Americano, which it began building in 2009. Blackhouse picked up its two new 29th Street sites from Victor Homes, a New Jersey-based developer, earlier this year for $40 million.
Blackhouse also has a condo project called Maison Dragao, straddling the border of the Lower East Side and Chinatown, in the works. [Crain’s] — Julie Strickland