A jumbo skyscraper project set to rise at 23rd Street and Madison Avenue will give the iconic Clocktower building across the street a run for its money.
The 60-story Saya, at 20 East 23rd Street, joins the ranks of condo conversions around Madison Square Park, and its number of stories will surpass that of a neighborhood icon that once held the distinction of being the city’s tallest building.
One Madison Avenue’s North Tower, also known as the Clocktower, was, briefly, in the early days of the 20th century, the tallest building in New York at 43 stories. It’s not consigned to past glories, though — hotelier and developer Ian Schrager is converting it to condos.
But the Saya is the first sign of a major transition along Madison Square Park’s south side, where fast-food restaurants pepper East 23rd Street across from the park. The two-building residential tower replaces a demolished McDonald’s and other buildings on the south side of the block.
Richard Cantor, a principal of Cantor Pecorella, which is marketing the Saya for Rockland County-based Slazer Development, said the project demonstrates the recent transformation of the area.
“The entire park will really be a residential neighborhood,” Cantor said.
“It’s transitioning,” agreed Tom Elliott, vice president of marketing at Elad Properties, which is selling the 192 condos at the converted Gift Building at 225 Fifth Avenue, at the northwest corner of the park. That project opens for occupancy in January.
“It’s changing from commercial to mixed-use as people see the value of it as a neighborhood,” he said. The park “is more of a family park now.”
The Saya will have park views while refraining from exposing its residents to the busy sidewalk activity. Both of the buildings in the project will front on 22nd Street. The 60-story, 604-foot-tall building will have units starting nine floors up. A second building will be nine floors of three-bedroom units, with street-level retail space on 23rd Street.
One-, two- and three-bedrooms, including 18 full-floor units and one 7,500-square-foot triplex, will range from $1 million to $6 million, with the triplex priced at $30 million.
Meanwhile, the new owners of the Toy Center on the southwest corner of the park are battling with the remaining office tenants in an attempt to convert the complex to condos (see Making office tenants leave).
Developer Joseph Chetrit said he hopes to begin selling around 500 condos next fall in the two buildings at 200 Fifth Avenue and 1107 Broadway. David Levine also partnered with Chetrit Brothers to gut the 1.2-million-square-foot interior and build an assortment of units, including lofts, penthouses and studios. Prices haven’t been set for the large project.
“We’ll base it on where we think the market is,” Levine said. “Prices will show the high-end quality, but we still need to figure out where the market is going to end up.”
Until recently, the edges of the park resembled the Financial District of Lower Manhattan — a location with lots of people in the daytime, but not after dusk.
That’s changing.
“A number of businesses have their stake right in Madison Square Park. And where there is corporate presence there is residential demand,” said Andrew Heiberger, CEO of development firm Buttonwood Real Estate, which planned the Sundari condos at Madison and 28th Street.
But the Sundari project was cancelled this summer because of high construction costs, perhaps a warning sign for other developers steaming ahead in the area. Buttonwood is selling the development site and said it may build the project elsewhere in the city.
Louise Phillips Forbes, a senior vice president at Halstead Property who successfully marketed 50 Madison Avenue, the first conversion on the park to be completed, said newer developments may have a rougher time. Manhattan inventory is at a 10-year high, and interest rates are rising.
“Inflation and interest rates on a million square feet is difficult,” Forbes said. “Developers have to make it diverse enough that people will want to buy a piece of history.”