Don't be fooled by the snow or the menacing proximity to the drab towers of Stuy Town or the smoking Con Ed plant in the background: come summer '08, this concrete hole will be the hottest rooftop pool in the entire East Village. OK, there's not much by way of competition, but don't rain on the parade of buyers at 13th Street's A Building, who are banking on a finished chill-out spot by the time the mercury rises. Writes one occupant, "This was taken over the weekend. Looks promising that this will be done for summer!" But don't count your rats before they're hatched, because this building has made delays something of a habit. All in all, a nice effort, but by no means Chupiriffic.
· Holy Flippin' A Building, Ratman! [Curbed]
· First A Building Rental Hits the Market [Curbed]
· 'A Building' Developer: Toll Brothers Who? [Curbed]
Former Development Du JourNo. 22 Renwick is the latest mindgrape to be plucked from the heads of PJAR, and the 12-story building will sit in the middle of the slightly depressing one-block artery that connects Tribeca with Hudson Square. Perhaps because of the lackluster surroundings, the No. 22 Renwick website has always been a little over the top. ("When we needed a respite from the clutter and the clatter we headed home. It wasn't surrender, but an escape to more rarefied quarters.") Now, finally, there are pictures to match the prose. A new crop of interior renderings have been published on the site to go with the previous peeks at the building and terraces. Snazztastic! According to Corcoran, eight of the 19 units are in contract, or as the building's website might read, "They were sales of largesse, yes, but also of kinship. More than contracts between parties, but contracts between souls."
· No. 22 Renwick [Official Site]
· CurbedWire: No. 22 Renwick Goes Scotch, Edge Gets Trashy [Curbed]
· Development Du Jour: No. 22 Renwick [Curbed]
Unless the developers of 48 Bond are going low-brow in an attempt to steal the spotlight from neighbors 40 Bond and 25 Bond, we assume the lap pool will not be visible from the sidewalk once the building is complete. Although, the renderings do seem to indicate that a peep show could be in the offing. For now, anyway, there it is for all Bond Street architourists to see. We've never quite understood the appeal of the lap pool—that shallow, narrow exercise accessory that goes mostly unused and drives up monthly maintenance fees like whoa—but something tells us that buyers in this wonky wonder aren't really the type to lose sleep over common charges. But are they exhibitionists?
· CurbedWire: 48 Bond Sells Out [Curbed]
· Full Bondage: 48 Bond Releases Penthouse [Curbed]
· Development Du Jour: 48 Bond [Curbed]
There's no hiding the vomitociousness of this Lower East Side 1BR apartment on the corner of Rivington Street and Forsyth overlooking Sara D. Roosevelt Park. In fact, the listing basically comes out and says it: "This apartment needs an architect and a contractor; it has potential but only for visionaries!" Why visionaries? Because this weird 36 Rivington Street apartment is only 600 square feet, yet has a 960-square-foot terrace. What the heck do you do with that? We go back to the listing: "the way to best use the space is to make it a two bed, one bath, and make the living room Green! A Greenhouse of 600Sf or more can be added and function as a living space most of the year. The only limit is your imagination. But then you know, that if you are looking at this, you have imagination!" Correction: You have imagination and $935,000, though if it sells for that much it may be time to finally pack it in.
· Listing: 36 Rivington Street [Halstead]
Artist Julian Schnabel has paraded all of his celebrity friends through the five-unit pink/not pink tower of insanity he built on West 11th Street, but so far only Richard Gere (and some boring banker dude) has taken the bait. Because the Palazzo is not nearly as Chupiriffic when not hovering at full capacity, the Schnabe is now courting the masses—well, the masses who have an extra $27 million lying around. Courtesy of an eagle-eyed tipster, the penthouse duplex that Bono passed on is now listed through the New York Times. Here it is, and note that the contact info is for Brian Kelly, a close associate of Schnabel's. And here is where your pulse starts racing, because even though Vanity Fair just recently finally cracked the level of secrecy surrounding the building's insides, the listing has interior photos galore. Can't. Breathe.
There are only two things in this world that can get us up to Scarsdale: 1) brunch at bubby and zeyde's house, and 2) a That's Rather Hideous nominee. This one falls into the latter. Writes the nominating party, "Close to $1 Mil. will get you the most complete decorating 'concept' I've ever seen, with the racing strips (or TRON lines, if you prefer) running over the curtain and the door and terminating in like-colored wicker furniture and shag carpeting. The other pics aren't much better, with a monochromatic Living room and chair camouflaged against a wall." As long as there's a two-car garage, we're sold.
· Listing: 4 Dell Road [Houlihan Lawrence]
Earlier, we expressed our chagrin at 15 Union Square West's password-protected website. Well, it didn't take long for some Curbed commenters to crack open the safe of Brack Capital's luxury condo conversion of the 1870 home of Tiffany & Co. Behold! Initial thoughts: Is that some original arched detail near the bottom? Hard to tell. As for the top? We'll go ahead and call it "modern." The building's interior design is being handled by Vicente Wolf Associates. The swimming pool may blow your mind. Today, some of the sweet, sweet renderings we dug up. Tomorrow we'll look at some floorplans.
For those who didn't get the message about the new-look, glammed-up Bowery with the opening of the Bowery Hotel and the New Museum, as well as the hot Dubai injection, we present you with the above: a fresh rendering of the entrance of architect Robert Scarano's condo tower rising at 52 East 4th Street. May I assist you with your bags, madame? But the building—which the Real Dealreports is technically 22 stories, not 15—is not all gated driveways (icky Bowery!) and $175,000 parking spots. Interior designer Andres Escobar is aboard, and TRD claims the innards "will be comparable to Ian Schrager's luxurious 40 Bond." The 14 units hit the market today(!) for $795,000 to $4.7 million. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York points us to the Wired New York thread on the building, where a deliciously deceptive rendering is posted.
Whew, 2007 was a wild one, wasn't it? To honor the insanity that crept into all matters neighborhoodish and real estatey, we present the Fourth Annual Curbed Awards. This year, the awards will be presented in small batches through Monday. Today, we tackle the year in real estate and development.
The Curbed feature That's Rather Hideous has, for years now, chronicled questionable decision in interior design as revealed by apartment listing photos. Today, for your viewing pleasure, our Top 10 Most Rather Hideous Apartments of 2007. Do enjoy.
We actually think this three-bedroom apartment for sale in Williamsburg's Smith Gray Building at 138 Broadway is kind of cool, and as the reader who nominated it for That's Rather Hideous consideration put it: "Actually, more bizarre than hideous. Really, really bizarre." But we lack a That's Rather Bizarre rubric, so tough luck! The $1.5 million apartment appears to be owned by clothing designer Sarah Blumenthal (she doesn't need it anymore), which would continue the recent trend of wacky designer-owned apartments. Records show she bought the place for $1.1 million, but some cash had to be put into that renovation.
· Listing: 138 Broadway [Elliman]
· Betsy Johnson's Penthouse: That's Rather Hideous? [Curbed]
As mentioned in this morning's celeb wrap, Betsey Johnson's very pink duplex penthouse at 45 Fifth Avenue is for sale for $3.6 million. That's basically the whole story, but the apartment seems to have made quite the impression on the Curbed readership. Several people have written in to ask how we could pass up giving Betsey's place the That's Rather Hideous stamp. Our rule of thumb is that celebrities—and that includes celebrity designers—are exempt from most, if not all, rational thought, so they can't really be criticized for interior design faux pas. That being said, we're not even sure about the hideous tag. The problem is just the paint job and a rug, no? And Betsey Johnson fans probably love it to pieces. So we ask you, gentle souls: Is this rather hideous?
· Listing: 45 Fifth Avenue [Corcoran]
· Celebrity Real Estate Wrap: Betsey's Pink Palace [Curbed]
