Fort Greene
The Brig
There’s new life for the site of the Brig, a former naval prison adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which was later used as a city correctional facility before prisoners were transferred to Riker’s Island in the 1990s. The building will be demolished to make way for up to 400 apartments, as well as retail and community space, Mayor Bloomberg announced last month. It will include both affordable and market-rate apartments. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development will issue a competitive request for proposals for development for the 104,000-square-foot site in 2005.
Midtown
Plaza Hotel
Fifth Ave and Central Park South
The Plaza Hotel is being sold for $675 million and some rooms are going condo. The price was the highest per room ever paid for a New York hotel at $838,000 a chamber. The sellers were Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the fourth-richest man in the world, and British hotelier Millennium & Copthorne. The buyer is an affiliate of El Ad Properties, which owns hotels throughout Israel and is known in Manhattan for its conversion work. Projects include 21 Astor Place. The as-yet-unspecified number of condos will sell for $2,000 per square foot.
Harlem
279 West 117th Street
A 138-unit mixed-income apartment building opened last month at 117th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. There are 42 apartments reserved for low-income tenants, with rents ranging from $380 for a studio to $879 for a three-bedroom apartment. The project was completed with the participation of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Park Avenue South
260 Park Avenue South
The former headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers is being converted into 110 condo units. There are 70 contracts out already, and 55 are signed. One-bedroom apartments of about 900 square feet start at $860,000, two bedrooms of 1,300 square feet start at $1.2 million, and three bedrooms of 2,650 square feet start at $2.92 million. The 4,000- square foot duplex penthouse, which has a swimming pool, is selling for $7.99 million. The conversion, by Tessler Developments, will be completed in 14 months. Douglas Elliman is marketing the project. Contact: sales office, 212-505-6260.
Prospect Heights
1 Prospect Park
Architect Richard Meier, who designed the celebrity magnet towers at 173-176 Perry Street, is working on a new project in Prospect Heights. The building, on Eastern Parkway, is for developer Mario Procida of Seventeen Development LLC and should be ready in two years. It will be 16 to 18 stories tall, and feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units, but will “not be luxury,” Meier told New York magazine. It is tentatively known as 1 Prospect Park.
Red Hook
60 Tiffany Place
The 36-unit condo development will have one-, two- and three-bedroom units selling for between $475 and $600 a square foot. The building will likely be finished at the end of the year. The developer is Marshall Sohne.
Upper East Side
170 East End Avenue
Garden Homes Development, which recently purchased Beth Israel Medical Center’s Singer Division property at 170 East End Avenue, is planning a new residential development for the site, which it says will maintain the original footprint of the former property. The building will be geared towards families who want to work and live in Manhattan, and empty nesters missing the city. The purchase also included two adjacent apartment buildings at 530 East 88th Street, and Garden Homes said it plans to renovate the rental buildings, which have 74 apartments.
West Village
423 West Street
Developer Michael Yanko is planning a narrow 10-story tower with eight condo units. The project will likely include a chef stationed in a basement kitchen who would cook dinners for residents. Contact: Corcoran Group Marketing, 212-343-5400.
West Village
163 Charles Street
Developer Kenny Schachter is planning a nine-story building with six condo units on a 22-foot lot next to architect Richard Meier’s planned 165 Charles Street project. Architect Zaha Hadid, winner of the Pritzker Prize, is designing the building. Construction could begin by early next year.
Construction Update
Upper East Side
One Carnegie Hill
A 40-story, 400-unit project on the north side of 96th Street between Second and Third Avenues broke ground in August and is expected to open in late 2005. Developed by Related Rentals, it’s the first of the company’s 16 rental buildings throughout the city to offer both rental and condo units. The bottom half of the tower will be rentals and the top half, starting at the 23rd floor, will be sale units.
Sales Update
Wall Street
Downtown by Philippe Starck
15 Broad Street
Contracts have been signed on more than half of the 326 units at the project, according to The New York Times. The former headquarters of J.P. Morgan and an adjoining 42-story tower is being designed by Ismael Leyva Architects and Starck. Collaborators on the project include Manish Chanda and Natalia Tunon. Sales began on Aug. 4, and prices have ranged from $470,000 for a studio to $2.64 million for a two-bedroom apartment. Contact: downtownbystarck.com.