Demand heats up on Hudson

Hudson Square, once a tiny and sometimes overlooked slice of Downtown nestled between Tribeca, Soho, the West Village and Hudson River Park, has long since lost the allure of being a bargain area surrounded by increasingly unaffordable trendy neighborhoods.

Indeed, if land values are any measure, its gentrification is nearly complete. Jane Gladstein, principal of Metropolitan Housing Partners, developers of 255 Hudson Street, the latest major residential building to open in Hudson Square, doubts that she would have built this condominium if she were buying the land today, instead of 2004, when the economics still made sense in an ascending market.

“The entire Downtown area is so hyper-inflated in terms of land values, I don’t know that we’d make the same buying decision today that we did when this land was acquired. It would be infinitely more expensive.”

As it is, Hudson Square has been very kind to Metropolitan Housing Partners. The company’s first luxury condominium in the area, 505 Greenwich Street, opened last April and sold its 104 units in a flash.

255 Hudson Street broke ground in January, and is expected to deliver its units by next summer. The project will have a façde similar to 505 Greenwich – it was designed by the same firm, Handel Architects – but its interior will be different, catering to a different demographic.

Located just off Spring Street, 505 Greenwich contains large, family-sized two- and three-bedroom apartments. “We’ll have fewer families at 255 Hudson,” says Gladstein. “It’s closer to Canal Street, and Hudson Street is a busier street than Greenwich and speaks to a more dynamic lifestyle. We felt the right mix consisted of one- and two-bedroom apartments.”

The all-glass façde is similar to its predecessor, but strives for even more hipness. “The palette is cooler than Greenwich Street,” says Gladstein, “where we used a lot of copper and bronze and warm grays. Here the concrete will be more prominent, the glass will be blue, the base will be zinc – so it creates a cooler aesthetic.”

She says the two glass elements speak to each other and incorporate blackened steel and zinc from the base of the building, which complement the limestone and warm gray slate.

255 Hudson has 65 units on 11 floors, smaller than its older sister. The 14-story 505 Greenwich won a variance for 2003 zoning regulations that opened the southern Hudson Square manufacturing district for residential development while limiting the size of new projects.

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“We could have applied for a variance for 255 Hudson,” says Gladstein, “but we’re building what the zoning allows.”

The building had to be sited a considerable distance back from one-block-long Renwick Street, between Spring and Canal. The developer placed three duplexes at the ground level, offering each a 60-foot-deep private backyard, essentially creating townhouses with entrances in the lobby.

The new building has few amenities besides a 24-hour concierge, but the apartments pile the luxury on, as 80 percent of the one-bedroom units have a master bathroom with oversized bathtub, plus a shower stall. Half of those also have a powder room. Kitchens offer Bosch, Viking and Sub-Zero appliances, and include separate wine refrigerators.

It’s something of an understatement to say the new developments in the area are going for a high-end clientele. According to Nino Vendome, co-developer of a Philip Johnson-designed condominium planned for Spring Street, “Here in a 10-block area, you’ll have 20 new buildings, all going for the same market – the absolute top.”

Retail is catching up to the highend purchasers moving in.

“The area is still a little bit light on services,” according to Christopher Owles, an agent for Sinvin Realty, which is marketing the retail space at 505 Greenwich.

The neighborhood now features a few tony restaurants, including Giorgione, owned by Giorgio DeLuca of Dean and De- Luca, Jonathon Marr’s 325 Spring Street and the Portuguese restaurant Pao!.

Acclaimed pastry chef and chocolatier Jacques Torres opened the chocolate factory and shop Chocolate Haven at 350 Hudson Street. “That’s starting to bring people in,” says Owles, “making Hudson Square a destination.”

“There’s construction on so many corners down here right now,” Owles adds. “People are going to demand services, enough to entice the big operators.”

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