We’ll never see most of Harlem’s highest quality residential construction. It lies hidden behind the closed doors of the privately owned, extravagantly finished brownstone townhouses lining the neighborhood’s streets.
But a few large-scale — for Harlem, anyway — condominiums, including 111 Central Park North, the Dwyer and the Lenox are making a very public show of their luxury finishes and amenities, raising the bar for quality construction for future developments Uptown.
A glassy act on the park
111 Central Park North, currently under construction, will be the first condo building in Harlem to be clad in glass, an emblem of luxury living in Manhattan. And, selling for over $1,000 a square foot in an area that for the most part hovers below $600, the building is pushing price points to a new level as well. Its 47 apartments start at $1.5 million.
Because the 18-story building faces Central Park dead on, according to Gary Davis, director of development for the Athena Group, “it would be unfortunate not to maximize our views. That’s where the glass came in.”
The parkfront façde andécorner of the building are composed of blue-tinted glass panels and glass-fenced balconies, all aimed at maximum light and views. The back half is masonry.
While glass costs a bit more, says Davis, “for every dollar you spend, you get a good dollar back. Every apartment has a park view.” Besides, he adds, “while glass walls are a little more expensive than typical masonry walls, the real dollars are in things you don’t see: the foundations, the superstructure. Concrete is concrete whether you’re facing the park or anyplace else. It’s the same price and it’s all expensive today.”
Davis puts construction costs for the building in the mid-$300s per square foot, on par with any project in the city. “Whether you’re building on the West Side or Downtown,” he says, “it’s the same contractors and we’re all in the same boat. There’s tremendous demand out there.”
Athena purchased the site for the building in January 2005, and the modern design, says Davis, “is not as contextual as one might think, but, because of the zoning, it had to be set back from the street and in that respect we’re comfortable in creating a special building there.”
Taking cues from townhouses
Some brokers say 111 Central Park North is the first project in Harlem to deliver a cClass A amenity package, including Abigail Michaels personal concierge, landscaped 10,000-square-foot terrace overlooking the park, underground parking and a refrigerated food and flower delivery room.
Still, says Athena director of marketing Harry Dubin, “we’re not pioneers. The pioneers have already established themselves. A lot of townhouses around us have been gutted and renovated to an incredible level. There are a lot of doctors and lawyers living up there.”
A recent conversion of a neighboring 11-story prewar building at 125 Central Park North into seven luxury condominium residences easily sold out its mostly two- and three-bedroom units ranging from about $670 to $1,200 a square foot.
Even at $1,000 a square foot, the building positions itself as a bargain, though a look through listings on brokerage Web sites last month shows that it’s possible to get an apartment on the west side of the park at 100th Street for that price. (A Corcoran listing at 400 Central Park West with direct park views was selling for around $1,000 per square foot.)
Though Harlem is a long way from Fifth Avenue in terms of ritziness, Dubin says the condos are clearly a bargain compared to other sides of the park. “Central Park South is $2,000 to $2,500 a square foot and Fifth Avenue is filled with co-ops far above $2,500.”
Margarita will be your guide
The question is, how do you get people who rarely venture above 96th Street to look at your building? The answer: Margarita.
Athena put a small fortune into a Web site which offers a virtual tour of the project and neighborhood, guided by the actual Abigail Michaels personal concierge assigned to the building, named Margarita, who also appears onscreen at www.111cpn.com. “We’re selling the entire project virtually,” says Dubin. “Most of our traffic is generated by the Web.
“We’re going to hand-hold these people,” says Dubin, particularly those clients who might have resistance to the location. “You’re going to have some hesitation from wives to their husbands for moving there. I know the negatives — and I can alleviate the negatives.”
Virtual Margarita explains the amenities at the building and then, says Dubin, “once we’re sold out she carries on from the Internet to reality, making sure their move is OK, the electric is turned on, there’s food in the refrigerator,” and customers’ upscale lifestyle continues unabated.
Aimed at families, 111 Central Park North is all twos and threes, featuring white oak hardwood flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows, private balconies, individual room controls for heat and AC, and washer/dryers in each unit. Baths have polished chrome fixtures, Wenge cabinets, Calcatta gold marble countertops and Kohler Tea-for-Two six-foot tubs.
The building is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. It just opened for sales in early September and has already sold most of its two-bedroom units. A penthouse, the New York Post reported, may sell for $12.9 million, which would be a sales price record for Harlem.
Details down to the Ds
A project in the works further uptown, the Dwyer, on the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and 123rd Street, also raises the bar for Harlem construction. Developer John Cross bought the site over five years ago, when land was half what it is today, and he is also the general contractor, so he is able to sell his condo lofts at about $600 a square foot.
“A building across the street sold recently for $200 a buildable square foot,” says Cross. “They’ll demolish it, and construction is another $300 a square foot, plus financing costs. They couldn’t sell for $600 if they tried.”
Cross considered pre-fab construction for the project, which might have been faster, easier and a bit cheaper. “Panelized construction makes a good exterior façde,” he says, “but not with what we’re doing. We’ve preserved the volumes of the original building [the historic Dwyer Warehouse, demolished in 2002], and we’re making every little thing, right down to the Ds that go in the custom balconies.”
The 51 open-plan lofts, ranging from 758 square feet to 1,925 square feet, feature ceiling heights between 9.25 and 10.5 feet, central air conditioning and Juliet balconies with French doors. Kitchens have stainless-steel appliances, dark granite countertops, full-height subway tile backsplash and solid maple cabinets.
The building has a 24-hour concierge, landscaped 2,500-square-foot roof deck, 70-seat screening room and yoga/dance studio. The exterior is masonry with oversized glass window-walls at the corner.
Expected to be completed by spring 2007, the Dwyer is marketed by Society Estates, an independent Harlem brokerage. Opened for sales in January 2006, the building is 70 percent sold.
Discovering higher-end demand
Cross says he got a glimpse of the clamor for high-end finishes in Harlem when he rehabilitated 32 government-subsidized custom townhouses as part the city’s HomeWorks program eight years ago. The program allowed buyers to add custom extras to vacant properties they bought from the city if the buyer came to the closing with cash.
“We thought this would hold down the extras,” recalls Cross, “but people would hire designers and come in with $100,000 and say, ‘we want this and this and this.'”
A limit of $50,000 was applied to custom extras to improve efficiency.
The one other sizable project laying claim to luxury appointments in Harlem is the Lenox, a 12-story condominium at 129th Street and Lenox Avenue, developed by Uptown Partners. Expected to be completed by mid-November, the building has 77 mostly two- and three-bedroom units selling for between $500 and $700 a square foot.
Featuring a 24-hour concierge, fitness center and landscaped roofdeck, the Lenox set a price-point record for an apartment above 125th Street when it sold a penthouse for $2.4 million.
While the buzz centers mainly around these three luxury properties at the moment, “this is only the beginning,” says Dubin. “We’re helping facilitate the migration north.”