Sherwood Equities is selling air rights near the High Line for $500 per square foot and capitalizing on the quickly vanishing supply of buildable space in West Chelsea.
The development firm told the New York Post that about two-thirds of the 20,000 square feet of air rights it acquired when it bought the High Line-adjacent building shell at 508 West 20th Street for $7.3 million last April is in contract for the sky high price.
“There’s a very [small] supply of something that, in essence, allows you to increase the best part of your building — the height and the views,” said Ryan Nelson, Sherwood’s senior vice president of development.
Typically air rights can be transferred only to adjacent buildings,the Post noted, but the city made an exception for properties that line the park and allowed those air rights to sell throughout West Chelsea. Almost 277,000 air rights have been sold since the exception was made, and an estimated 60,000 square feet remain.
Meanwhile, rather than use the five stories worth of rights on the 4,000-square-foot lot, Sherwood plans a single-story restaurant or gallery at the site. [Post]