Richard Meier Listings up on Corcoran

jarvis

Yikes!

http://corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=898881

neene

ykes is right

"Sales Gallery located at
78 Leonard Street
New York, NY 10013
P (718) 230-7905"

excuse me, tribeca location w/a 718 area code!!!

and did you check out the pix?
as having once lived with and been the proud owner of the barcelona grouping,
i feel i can say,
could that living room look more like an airport lounge?

alafairnadia

note the 8.9 foot ceilings. W.T.F.????

whyfi

Gotta love the tax abatement, eh? 25 bucks a month! Too bad the Maintenance/CC is a mortgage payment itself...

doctorj

Maybe none of them will sell, nobody will want to live there at any price, an attempt at making it a hotel will fail, and the developer will end up in a bailout with the city to turn the building to a Section 8 tenemant.

alafairnadia

doctorj wrote: Maybe none of them will sell, nobody will want to live there at any price, an attempt at making it a hotel will fail, and the developer will end up in a bailout with the city to turn the building to a Section 8 tenemant.

tee hee. (omg, hope I live to see the day ...)

jack krohn

Well I have a bit of inside knowledge and believe me several of the apartments are already in contract. This building will definitely sell out

alafairnadia

Jack Krohn wrote: Well I have a bit of inside knowledge and believe me several of the apartments are already in contract. This building will definitely sell out

people are just stupid. 8.9 ft ceilings? do people just want to feel like they're living in a basement?

doctorj

If it's a real 8'9" between floor and ceiling, not a broker's 8'9" or an architect's 8'9" between floors, I think that's ok (i.e. it's what I've got). But I suppose if I were buying a place at this pricepoint, I'd also own a Joan Miro sculpture or two I'd need to hang in my living room, and thus want the extra volume.

raulism

alafairnadia wrote: people are just stupid. 8.9 ft ceilings? do people just want to feel like they're living in a basement?

I'm sure they're all from Manhattan, so they think it's very onLuxurious.

jgregorie

is there going to be any retail on the ground floor of that place?

Jack Krohn wrote: Well I have a bit of inside knowledge and believe me several of the apartments are already in contract. This building will definitely sell out

alafairnadia

doctorj wrote: If it's a real 8'9" between floor and ceiling, not a broker's 8'9" or an architect's 8'9" between floors, I think that's ok (i.e. it's what I've got). But I suppose if I were buying a place at this pricepoint, I'd also own a Joan Miro sculpture or two I'd need to hang in my living room, and thus want the extra volume.

not entirely certain as to the differences, but if I lived in that building, I'd want a giant honkin' (in the non-noisy, texan sense) chandelier and other gigantic, stupid light fixtures. and I'd want to be able to invite over my real estate attorney, who is 6'4 and not worry about him knocking himself out on the light fixture. is that so much to ask for $3M?

whyfi

Me? For $3M I at least better get his and her sinks in the master bath.

jarvis

I have to say, the views look pretty amazing (from the renderings on the website).

I wonder if the new folks are even going to walk toward Underhill - or will they just scurry to and from the train? Are they all going to be chilling at Sepia? If so, I hope they're buying drinks.

whyfi

jarvis wrote: Are they all going to be chilling at Sepia? If so, I hope they're buying drinks.

Maybe this'll finally convince Sepia to start taking cards... :roll:

leeho

I haven't walked on Plaza and for a while and took the dog for a stroll on St. Johns and really could not believe how quickly that building has risen from the ground. Is it me, or is that thing like a fucking fairy tale beanstalk? How did it go up so fast? The Washington on Washington Ave. seems to be taking an eternity. Weird.

whyfi

It has gone up really quickly...

My understanding with The Washington is that it's a Scarano building in C of O limbo...

ana.log

Scarano is also building the condos on St Marks behind my building. I have had a lovely view of the construction from my bedroom window for 2 years now and you can still see the concrete building blocks (which are cracked from having been exposed to the elements for so long; the steel beams are rusty). I have also wondered why the Meier building has gone up so quickly while the Scarano buildings are moving at a snail's pace. Can't wait to see what they will charge for those.

em

Semi-related...
The other day I was walking North on Vanderbilt and all of a sudden looked up and saw in the distance what looks like 10 stories of brand new building off in the direction of Fort Greene (?). I looks to be a new condo building on Vanderbilt and Fulton or Gates. But I swear it appeared overnight. I've been walking the same way for 2 1/2 years...

architectnerd

I'm an architect and I live around the corner. I think the building is going to be gorgeous. It's not of the brick and stone variety but it fits with the scale of all the gigantic buildings on the Plaza. I'm not sure I'd pay that much to live there(I think I already pay WAY too much). But the facade is well proportioned and the building is going to look great.

It's a shame that modernist architects and their work, born out of the great Modern movements of a half century ago have completely abdicated their responsibility to provide housing for the rest of us. That was the whole point of architectural Modernism, an embrace of the value of industrial fabrication techniques as a means to bring quality to the struggling masses. Now it never really worked out that way and Corb's plan to demo Paris and put up a housing project would have been a disaster but there's something just incredibly disheartening to see a building I like by an architect I respect just turn into a plaything for rich people. Seeing it everyday just reminds me that my little rental is a poor substitute for what I really want.

P.S. I grew up in a giant high rise complex in Manhattan so I don't exactly pine for the brownstone life. Give me an elevator and I'm set.

izisharp

what's with the beef with 8.9' ceilings? That's not that low. Sure, it's nice to have 10', but anything more than 10' is a waste.

How high are your ceilings now?

alafairnadia

izisharp wrote: what's with the beef with 8.9' ceilings? That's not that low. Sure, it's nice to have 10', but anything more than 10' is a waste.

How high are your ceilings now?

most of the people I know who could afford to buy there have cited the 8.9' ceilings as one of the top reasons why they aren't even going to bother looking.

go by one of the open houses at one hanson place and check out the ceilings there - they are gorgeously high and add a real feeling of decadence to the apartments. (yes, I have rich friends who drag me along to see expensive and jealousy-inducing housing)

and I'm not certain how high my celings are - they're definitely higher than 8.9 feet, though.

jack krohn

Yikes! Looks like one of my enemies has managed to post under my name! I did NOT make the above post.

jack krohn

Mystery solved. The wife posted under my name accidentally.

As if anyone cares...

denvernougat

I don't hate it from the outside as much as I thought I would – but I can’t imagine living there. It’s like you walk into your house everyday and think – hey! I’m an Asshole! Look at my view!

What's amazing to me is the snail’s-pace of the library redevelopment compared with it. Every time I walk by the two it makes me sad. The city can't rebuild the steps at the library, but the developers have no problem throwing up a million dollar ticky tacky glass condo.

dailyheights

Jack Krohn wrote: Mystery solved. The wife posted under my name accidentally.

As if anyone cares...

did your wife choose your avatar?

sterling2000

DenverNougat wrote: I don't hate it from the outside as much as I thought I would – but I can’t imagine living there. It’s like you walk into your house everyday and think – hey! I’m an Asshole! Look at my view!

What's amazing to me is the snail’s-pace of the library redevelopment compared with it. Every time I walk by the two it makes me sad. The city can't rebuild the steps at the library, but the developers have no problem throwing up a million dollar ticky tacky glass condo.

This is probably an easy one based on the economics of incentives.

Library = non-profit, government-funded

OnePP = for-profit, privately-funded

Sad, yes.
Reality, yes.

sterling2000

I gotta say, I continue to be a fan of the building.

And, I wouldn't feel like an asshole living there. I'd feel privileged.

All that being said, I completely agree with the above post on the lost-hope of Modernism for the masses. Modernism doesn't get the due it deserves, particularly the mid-late 20th century stuff that is now being demolished worldwide (i.e Russia and Germany), particularly because of the Iron Curtain/Eastern Europe conotations it carries. And then, you've got Columbus Circle's transformation in Manhattan. In 75-100 years we will regret these losses, just as we regret the razing of now-beloved Victorian architecture in the name of progress and taste in the early 20th-century.

doctorj

sterling2000 wrote:
This is probably an easy one based on the economics of incentives.

Library = non-profit, government-funded

OnePP = for-profit, privately-funded

Sad, yes.
Reality, yes.

While not disagreeing with you, I've also seen the opposite happen (though not in the US lately). A half-built tower that languished for many years, while public works were finished around it. In a down market where the for-profit privately-funded construction starts to have trouble raising further capital, the tortoise can win the race. Also, if there's a hard deadline on a public work (like getting finished in time for the Olympics or something) it's amazing what can get done.

Case in point: the park on the corner of Underhil and Prospect, and the Fedders Special just across the street. I wonder which of these moribund projects will finish first: for-profit or non-profit?

sterling2000

I almost mentioned the Olympics, too. That's a weird one though where the IOC is technically non-profit but has an enormous amount of for-profit ripple aspects wrapped up in it (i.e. sponsorships, tourism, etc.).

I'm with you...

rala

Brooklyn Public Librry should be famous for how long it takes to renovate a branch,,,,,