From left: Audrey Matlock, the exterior of 57 Irving Place and an interior rendering

The shiny glass building at 57 Irving Place topped out as long ago as 2009, and it was well on its way to being fully clad not long afterwards. But the finishing touches were only recently applied, which is why this seems like a fine moment to take its measure.

Designed by Audrey Matlock, this building was developed by Madison Equities, which pioneered the Galleria at 117 East 57th Street a generation ago and, more recently, the Chelsea Modern at 447 West 18th Street. Like 57 Irving Place, Chelsea Modern was designed by Matlock. The latter building is a far bolder structure than the one on Irving Place. It consists of four undulating strips in two tones of blue that buckle and clash across the surface of the building. This aggressive, classic style of design can also be seen in the architect’s work for the New York Aquarium. [more]

Corcoran's Marie-Claire Gladstone and 57 Irving Place

The long-stalled boutique condo 57 Irving Place is now sold out, after re-starting sales in November, the project’s developer told The Real Deal. Sales at the nine-unit Gramercy Park building originally started in 2010, but stalled later that year due to the collapse of the original lender for the project, according to developer Robert Gladstone. [more]

Amid the credit crunch, New York City’s large and growing inventory of stalled projects seem to have scared off even the wealthiest of new development apartment buyers. At pricey developments like 57 Irving Place, where the cheapest unit is a $6.75 million three-bedroom, buyers are still wary of committing to anything before the building is finished, Robert Gladstone, CEO of developer Madison Equities, told the New York Times. “There’s no market of people buying from plans,” he said. “Basically everyone is saying, we’d like to see a representation of how the lobby is going to look, we want to see the apartment a little further along.” Gladstone’s next project is 145 Perry Street, a bed-and-breakfast inn. He says New York has a dearth of hotels, and the outlook for those types of properties is “very, very strong.”