Far-flung West Chelsea seemed an unlikely substitute for Soho as the city’s art Mecca 20 years ago. But as Soho became increasingly retail centric, galleries found West Chelsea, with its massive old industrial spaces, the perfect alternative. Now the city’s art epicenter, it too is suffering from its own success. “If I get a call from somebody looking for ground-floor space in West Chelsea and there’s one space available, we’re lucky,” said broker Susan B. Anthony, whose eponymous firm works with arts tenants. With few spaces available and rents rising, galleries are again on the move, popping up from the Lower East Side to Chinatown to Brooklyn. But that doesn’t mean West Chelsea is done, as some recent headlines suggest. Zoning there favors galleries, plus landlords like the property value boost they offer in an area that’s drawing more people, thanks to the High Line and the new Whitney Museum. Even so, the business is changing, and new demands like attending pricey art fairs are challenging galleries’ tight budgets, while Internet auctions pose new competition. As a result, some galleries are trading large West Chelsea spaces for smaller LES spots. After all, artists are used to pioneering new real estate terrain. “Galleries open and close and move around the city like pimples on a teenager,” said Earl Bateman, of commercial brokerage Rice & Associates.
442%
The increase in the number of New York City galleries since 1965. Right now, there are 1,405 open, down from 1,555 in 2013. Fifty years ago, there were 272.
295
The total number of galleries operating in West Chelsea today, compared with 81 galleries in Soho, 226 on the LES and 68 in Bushwick.
68
The number of galleries West Chelsea lost since its peak in 2007, when there were 363 galleries and “literally no inventory,” according to one broker. Soho, meanwhile, lost 256 since it peaked at 337 in 1995.
$130
Average asking rent per square foot in West Chelsea. Last year was the first time the figure exceeded that of the LES’s $125. The latter is a larger neighborhood and has a much greater disparity in prices, ranging from $85 on Rutgers Street to $250 for ground-floor space on the Bowery.
Artist Eduardo Paolozzi’s “Horizon of Expectations” at CLEARING, a Bushwick gallery.
$204 psf
The cost of the priciest gallery space in West Chelsea. At 500 square feet, the Jo Anne Artman Gallery at 511-A West 22nd Street is tiny, but has 14-foot high ceilings and is adjacent to the High Line.
$30
The typical price per square foot for ground-floor space in Bushwick. Prices rarely go above $50 and can drop as low as $10 per square foot. Emerging artists are most common but top-tier galleries like Luhring Augustine, CLEARING and Theodore: Art have landed there as well.
37.8%
The share of the city’s 95 new galleries that opened on the LES so far this year, or 36 galleries. Only 15 galleries opened in West Chelsea since January, while 20 sprung up in Brooklyn.
220
The approximate number of contemporary art fairs worldwide in 2014. Between flights, shipping, personnel and admission, a gallery owner can spend $50,000 per fair.
Five art fairs could be the equivalent
of a year’s rent for some.
2,500
The estimated number of new luxury residential units going up in West Chelsea over the next three years. There’s also a building boom on the LES, where developers have applied to construct at least 1,192 residential and hotel units, and 1.7 million square feet, since January 2013.
$23.7 million
Price superstar artist Jeff Koons paid this year for three Hell’s Kitchen properties with 11,000 square feet and another 50,000 of buildable square feet. Koons is losing his 10,000-square-foot space at 601 West 29th Street, which will be demolished to make way for apartment towers. At this point, a developer hasn’t been named.
$5.75 million
The price high-profile art dealer Larry Gagosian paid for a 21,527-square-foot space on 24th Street, between 10th and 11th avenues, in 1999. Gagosian still owns the building, in addition to four other galleries in the city.
2,500 sq. ft.
Size of the James Cohan Gallery at 291 Grand Street on the LES, opening later this year. The asking rent was $125 per square foot and the gallery paid close to that. It also kept its 4,937-square-foot flagship location at 533 West 26th Street in West Chelsea and has a satellite studio
in Shanghai.
Sources: Earl Bateman, Bloomberg, Crain’s, Artnet, New York Magazine, New York Times, and TRD reporting.