100 11th Avenue residents get prison views

The Jean Nouvel-designed condominium located at 100 11th Avenue, at 19th Street, not only offers Hudson River-front vistas and views of the High Line, it also looks out on the roof of a neighboring prison, the New York Times reported.

“We called it ‘the naughty girls’ club,’” Holly Parker, a Prudential Douglas Elliman managing director and director of sales at the condo, told the Times. “We never said the p-word,” meaning prison.

The naughty girls’ club is actually named the Bayview Correctional Facility, which is a medium-security prison for women only. Instead of bars over the windows, said the Times, it has thick screens. As a medium-security prison, it houses “well-behaved” inmates convicted of murder, robbery or drug dealing. Though it doesn’t mention the number, the Times wrote that most of the inmates are either approaching the final days of their sentences or are participating in work-release programs.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

According to real estate pros with whom the Times spoke, there were some buyers at 100 11th Avenue who found the prison view to be a turn-off. Not Kelsey Grammar, who bought an apartment in the building in late 2010. Residents who the Times spoke with said they found no problem living next to the prison, which was formerly a YMCA.

“There’s the view of the water, there’s the view of the city, and there’s the view of the prison,” said resident Joseph Wald. “It’s a great conversation starter.” [NYT]