Artsy condo projects take advantage of museum proximity

From left: rendering of Torre Verre, One Museum Mile, 250 Bowery
From left: rendering of Torre Verre, One Museum Mile, 250 Bowery

Sales are booming in buildings clustered around New York City’s public art destinations, as evidenced by the success of buildings near the Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum. 

1280 Fifth Avenue, which is anchored by the Museum of African Art, wasn’t doing so hot in 2011, according to the New York Daily News. Only 16 of its 90 units had sold when brokerage firm CORE took over and rebranded the building as One Museum Mile. But things took off in 2013; a $3.6 million property sold there last year set the record for home sale price in East Harlem, as The Real Deal reported.

“Now we’ve only got eight left,” CORE broker Tom Postilio told the News.

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250 Bowery’s developer, VE Equities, is also taking advantage of its artsy neighbor the New Museum — actress Scarlett Johansson checked out the property, for instance, according to the News. A penthouse there for $2,500 per square foot — the highest price per square foot ever on the Bowery — in 2013, in a sale brokered by Douglas Elliman’s Fredrik Eklund.

Other museum-friendly buildings include 1001 Fifth Avenue near the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a $1 billion tower called Torre Verre near MoMa by Jean Nouvel in the works. [NYDN] — Angela Hunt