For many of the churches in New York City that grabbed the opportunity to get solvent by selling their air rights or even parts of their property during
the real estate boom, the day of reckoning is at hand.
Now, many a religious building is finding that the towering new glass-and-steel condo appendage to their once peaceful little retreat blocks the sun and sky, attracting the ire of the community. Some churches might wonder if they’ve sold their souls in their real estate dealings.
The Chelsea Enclave, a luxury apartment building under construction on the edge of property owned by the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in West Chelsea, might be one exception. The seminary negotiated long and hard to make sure the new construction on their land would be something it could live with.
The seminary, the oldest institution of its kind in the United States, includes a
neo-Gothic chapel, divinity school and hidden, pastoral inner garden called the Close. It has quietly occupied a full block in West Chelsea since 1817.
In 2005, developer Dan Brodsky approached the dean of the facility offering cash for the one piece of expendable land within the campus grounds, a block-long sliver on Ninth Avenue between 20th and 21st streets.
Short on funds, the seminary figured it was time to capitalize on its most valuable material possession. “They needed to get some money,” recalled Brodsky, “and real estate was one of their opportunities to get it.
“Their board agreed to the idea of having an apartment house on the Close,” said Brodsky, and the negotiations began. The Brodsky Organization came in “offering about $300 a square foot for the land and a large space within the new building for administrative offices, a library and some meeting rooms for the students,” he recalled.
The negotiations produced plans for a 17-story cond-op with a lease on the land pre-paid by the developer to the church for 99 years. “The advantages for the seminary,” said Brodsky, “is that in 100 years, they’ve
got a shot at getting more money — and they’ll be here in 100 years. And for us, in terms of selling the apartments, we’re paying $1 a year for the next 99 years, with no escalations,” which should help keep buyers’ maintenance fees down.
A 17-story tower would have dwarfed the low-rise landmarked buildings on the campus, but, said Brodsky, “our justification for it was that the building right across the street on Ninth Avenue is 17 stories, so we felt that was an appropriate size.”
The seminary convinced itself that it could live with a 17-story tower, but the community — and more importantly, the Landmarks Commission — was not so convinced. Talks with Landmarks brought the building down to seven stories to match the height of the seminary buildings. However, it shrunk projected profits as well.
To squeeze out more room for apartments, Brodsky won approval for the seminary to build a separate building for administrative offices and meeting rooms elsewhere on the property, on a piece of land now occupied by a tennis court. The St. Marks Library, with its collection of over 240,000 volumes, will occupy 20,000 square feet on the ground level and basement of the Chelsea Enclave, with an entrance on the Close.
The building’s design morphed in the approval process as well. According to Susan Rodriguez, design partner at Polshek Partnership, architect for the Enclave, “We had originally assumed a sort of masonry base of brick and brownstone with a tall glass tower emerging out of that.”
“But Landmarks wanted more of a
contextual building,” said Brodsky. “They wanted more of the brick and brownstone, which are materials that exist now on the historic buildings.
“But it certainly is not a copy of what was there. There is a modern look to it.”
For one thing, the top two floors will be wrapped in glass.
The Enclave’s nine penthouses, seven of which are duplexes, will have floor-to-ceiling glass windows and outdoor space with expansive views over the low-lying buildings in the neighborhood. The most extravagant, which at $12 million has the building’s highest price point, has two terraces — all together 2,000 square feet of outdoor space — wrapping around both floors with views of the Close and beyond to the Empire State Building.
According to the Enclave’s interior architect, Alan Wanzenberg, the 3,500-square-foot, four-bedroom penthouse “projects out of the masonry part of the building and gets very glass-like, like the bow of a ship.”
Since the apartment will be surrounded by glass and is not very deep, most of the apartment interiors will be flooded with light — and exposed, right down to the free-standing “Tea for Two” soaking tub inches from the window-wall in the master bathroom — an exhibitionist’s delight.
“I suppose it’s not for the faint of heart,” said Wanzenberg.
Of course, he added, “you can decide what your curtain treatment is. If you want to see the city beyond, you can do a bottom-up shade.”
A notable feature of the $12 million penthouse, said Wanzenberg, is “the staircase, which moves through the whole apartment, providing an atrium effect.”
In total, the Chelsea Enclave will have 53 one- to four-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from about 880 to 3,500 square feet, and starting from $1.4 million.
Conceiving the layouts, Wanzenberg said he wanted to create “apartments that will be very marketable because they are easy for people to understand and give people a sense of graciousness. Efficiency is very important, but it’s equally important to have a layout that appeals to a myriad of buyers.”
Hallways and circulation are critical aspects of the design — “the ability,” he said, “to access a number of rooms through those types of areas.” The apartments will contain “foyers and galleries that are often part of a vocabulary you see on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Park Avenue,” he added.
“On the upper floors,” said Wanzenberg, “we allowed all the rooms to get major views, and at the same time, all the interior hallways get light when the doors are open. The uniqueness of the building site allowed us to do that. It’s kind of a long narrow L, with not much depth.”
The apartments feature “fumed” (a special treatment
that reveals the grain) white oak floors throughout and kitchens containing intricately grained light oak cabinets designed by Wanzenberg, and black granite countertops with water-brushed finishes. Many of the kitchens are laid out near the sliding doors, which open to the terrace and the living room.
The building also has 6,000 feet of retail space on Ninth Avenue. “We are negotiating now with a restaurant that might take a lot of the space,” said Brodsky, “and a bookstore and maybe some art galleries.”
Residents enter the building on Ninth Avenue and will have limited access to the park-like Close, which is open to the public every day except Sunday during certain hours.
The lobby will have terrazzo floors with beige limestone borders and chromed, accented wood-paneled walls and a view through the building to the Close.
Amenities include a children’s playroom, fitness center with yoga studio and on-site parking. The rooftop lounge has a sundeck, dining area with stainless steel grill, an entertaining area with gas fireplace and a restroom — a rarity, claims James Lansill, managing director of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing, which is handling sales at Chelsea Enclave.
“Most buildings have wonderful roof terraces but no facilities,” he said. “So if you give a party, you have people going up and down to your apartment to use the bathroom.”
The building will top out in early December and is
expected to be open for occupancy a year after that.
Sales for Chelsea Enclave opened Sept. 15, “the very day things started unraveling in the economy,” said Lansill. A couple of units have been sold since then.
“To have sold anything at all in this market is a success story,” said Lansill.