1) It's a strange world when a couple with a newborn decides to settle on the Bowery, but that's just what Nicole Ritchie and babydaddy Joel Madden appear to be doing. The pair bought a modest 2BR, 2BA condo at 199 Bowery, the building that rises over the nightclub BLVD. They paid $999,999, and intend to use it as a "primary residence." [Elizabeth Wolff/PageSix.com]
2) The historic Rosario Candela-designed co-op at One Sutton Place South has a new mega-rich tenant. Kenneth Cole paid $14.5 million for a 5BR, 5BA river-fronting apartment, complete with library, drawing room and—one would assume—a nice size shoe closet. [Braden Keil/Gimme Shelter]
3) The Grand Madison, already flying high after getting that announced Derek Jeter gym, may soon be graced by bigger royalty. Per StreetEasy, Chelsea Clinton boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky closed on a corner unit for $4 million. How long before Bill is spotted in line at the Shake Shack?
4) The fact that architect Lindy Roy's High Line 519 building will be plagued by construction next door for a couple of years did not stop Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host Ty Pennington from plunking down $2.5 million for an apartment in the building. Maybe he can't sleep without the soothing sound of drilling? [Elizabeth Wolff/PageSix.com]
To call HL23—a space-age condo building from a man named Alf—an "anticipated addition" to the crop of real estate development surrounding the High Line would be like calling burritos merely "yummy" or the Knicks only "disappointing." Just check out the team involved: architect Neil Denari, interior designer Thomas Juul-Hansen and façade specialists Front, last seen consulting on Jean Nouvel's 100 Eleventh Avenue, Asymptote's 166 Perry Street and FLAnk's 385 West 12th Street and 441 East 57th Street. Yesterday we had a look at some of the 15-story West Chelsea building's interiors, and now we've dug up some more. To keep all the craziness in one central location, we've compiled all the HL23 renderings into one glorious mindfuck of a gallery. Have a gander at our favorite new High Line building since The Standard, which was our favorite new High Line building since the High Line Building, which was our favorite new High Line building since the Caledonia, which was our favorite new High Line building since High Line 519, which was...
· HL23 [Official Site]
· HL23 Interiors Revealed; Peace on Earth At Hand [Curbed]
· High Line Makes Room for Alf [Curbed]
115-119 Norfolk Street—the 24-unit Lower East Side condo building designed by Hotel on Rivington architects Grzywinski Pons that was abandoned, sold and reborn—is back on track. And now we understand why one rumored name for the building is "Norfolk Atrium." CityRealty fills in the details:
115 Norfolk Street will be distinguished by an open-top atrium entrance and by its random design of fretted glass windows.
The atrium is slightly off-center to the south of the building's frontage on Norfolk Street. The atrium will be enclosed in glass on Norfolk Street but its west wall is angled upwards and towards the west and rises a bit above the roofline. The atrium's top is open to the sky and the angled west wall is somewhat reminiscent of the Austrian Cultural Institute at 11 East 52nd Street designed by Raimund Abraham and opened in 2000.
Apartments that overlook the atrium will have the same fretted glass windows as the Norfolk Street facade. Mr. Grzywinksi told CityRealty.com when plans were first disclosed for the project that these windows will have random "cloud" shapes in angled fretted designs. This decorative touch is somewhat reminiscent of Lindy Roy's sinuously-shaped balcony "amoeba-shaped" scrims for a new project now under construction at 519 West 23rd Street known as Highline 519.
Folks, if you're anything like us, you sit around all day thinking, "When are architect Neil Denari and developer Alf Naman going to release additional renderings of their wondrous creation, HL23?" Today, new develoment blog Triple Mint hears our prayers and serves up the goodness, including a provocative view of how HL23 plays with its next-door neighbor, the already complete High Line 519 development by architect Lindy Roy. Oh, the freaking glory. West Chelsea, you continue to amaze.
· HL23: Condos at 515 West 23rd Street [Triple Mint]
· Complete HL23 Coverage [Curbed]
The Dutch built up this crazy little island, and now they're coming back to add a touch of the avant-garde. Ben van Berkel, one of the principal architects behind the UNStudio design firm—whose work upstate was sadly destroyed by fire recently—is designing his first condo building in America, and it's landing at 5 Franklin Place. Franklin whatnow? Franklin Place is a one-block alley that connects Franklin and White Streets, half a block west of Broadway and a few blocks below Canal Street. Yes, the residents' entrance will be in an alley, which immediately makes this the most awesome thing ever. Those twin five-story buildings seen above, at 369-371 Broadway, are what sit on the lot now. The developer of the project is Sleepy Hudson, the same company behind the trippy High Line 519, but 5 Franklin Place will be bigger—21 stories. The cat was let out of the bag back in November 2006, when Sleepy Hudson secured financing for the project. And indeed, there's already a Wired New York thread on the topic. But van Berkel's involvement is the splashy new headline. We assume 369-371 Broadway will be razed to make way for the new building, but so far only interior demolition permits have been filed.
1) Soho: Our rumbler tried to pull a fast one on us by slipping us a photo of 350 West Broadway, which has been vacant since the Stone Age. One reader pointed out this Wired New York thread that has info on a proposed 11-story residential addition to the building. Will it actually happen? That's for the Gods (or the Martignetti brothers or whomever else rules Soho nowadays) to figure out.
2) Chelsea: No one quite knows what to make of the old Exxon station site at 23rd Street and Tenth Avenue, but one reader noted the water-pumping comment and replies, "Almost every new building site from 9th Ave west has a good chance of requiring dewatering. Nothing odd in that regard." And another says: "I don't know about the old gas station on 23rd...but I saw people moving into highline 519 across the street from it this weekend." Oh man, remember that weirdo building? Looks we should've taken the over.
3) Times Square: The Daily News pulled the trigger early and ran a whole story on the delayed TKTS/Stairway to Nowhere booth in Duffy Square. We covered it yesterday, but here's the gist: glass supplier = bankrupt; engineering = difficult; workers = working; completion = TK. A tipster snapped a current photo for us, and by the looks of it, it'll be a while before confused tourists climb those stairs.
· Rumblings & Bumblings: Tribeca Guts, Chelsea Worry, TKTS Troubles [Curbed]
Long before The High Line became synonymous in certain circles with luxury condo living, there was architect Lindy Roy's High Line 519 development. We were on the scene in summer 2005 when ground was broken, but hadn't heard much from the project since then. Today comes a photo in the inbox from a tipster that shows the building is, in fact, nearly complete, with a facade that more than lives up to its renderings. Snazzy! "Delivery summer 2007," reads the official site; latecomers lament, as the 11 units in the development all appear to have sold or be in contract.
· Development Du Jour: High Line 519 [Curbed]
· High Line 519 Update: Lindy Roy's Toy [Curbed]
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