NEXT WEST THING
MASSIVE UPTOWN NEWBIES ARE READY TO SOAK UP THE SUN
By ADAM BONISLAWSKI
Posted: 1:03 am
May 14, 2009
If you had to pick a time to launch a five-building, 710-unit residential complex in New York City, now probably wouldn't be it. Nonetheless, that's exactly what developers Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group are doing with Columbus Square, a massive Upper West Side rental project.
Stretching over three square blocks -- from 97th to 100th streets and from Columbus to Amsterdam avenues -- the development, which is slated to start leasing in the middle of this month, represents a dramatic show of confidence amid an otherwise dreary real estate market.
Of course, even in a downturn, the Upper West Side is still, as Stellar Management principal Laurence Gluck says, a "rock-solid" neighborhood. And although 97th and Columbus isn't quite a prime block, the developers hope features like valet parking, a mosaic-tiled saltwater pool, 5-plus acres of open green space and eco-friendly touches such as a tri-generation electricity plant and one of the city's largest solar panel arrays will bring in renters.
Also likely to pique the interest of potential residents are the soon-to-come retail offerings (such as a 57,500-square-foot Whole Foods scheduled to open in August) and rents that start at $1,895 for a studio. (According to The Real Estate Group New York, the average rent for an Upper West Side doorman studio is $2,135.)
The developers, who acquired the land in 1998 before the city's most recent building boom and started work on Columbus Square in 2006, "tried to reflect the demographics of the Upper West Side," Gluck says. This meant building units in a variety of sizes, from three- and four-bedroom family apartments, to studios and one-bedrooms for young couples and singles.
Not that Gluck is especially picky about who ends up moving in. Asked who the buildings are aimed at, he gives a single, simple criterion: "We're looking for people who are employed."
