building at 100 Eleventh Avenue

This is incomplete data; I have a client who is in contract in this building and his apartment is not listed that way on this site.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

I see the first closings have occurred here: 1 apt up for rent already ($20k/mo). Has anyone been inside? Does it live up to the $2500/ft hype? Remarkable exterior structure but wondering if the inside is as good.

40 Mercer another Jean Nouvel bldg hasn't faired too well.
Apt #9 at 40 Mercer sold for $2,350,000 in 3/07.
Now asking $1,995,000.
I suppose that whole 'starchitect' business doesn't mean much in a down market.

a) I think the exterior of that building may very well be a future maintenance disaster.
b) I think we will see a lot of units listed in contract there not close. You've got a lot of contracts from Q1 and Q2 2008. How sanguine are those purchasers today about the prices they signed for vs what current market is?
c) Are people going to spend $20,000 a month for three bedroom apartment over there where the two minor BRs are 13'-9" x 9" and 11'-6" x 11'?
d) Are you sure closings have begun?
e) "wondering if the inside is as good."; "minimalist" seems to be the operative word http://www.brownharrisstevens.com/detail.aspx?id=1070683

____________________

David Goldsmith
DG Neary Realty

30yrs, do you think the rental that is on the market could be from the sponsor? i'd doubt they'd do so prior to trying to clear as many of their in contract units as possible. so i'd think that rental unit is someone who has closed, although obviously i have no way of knowing for sure.

i absolutely agree with the rest of your post. so much money for this floor plan. i've never been enamored of this development, as well as a number of other ones in the neighborhood. for these prices one should get an established neighborhood, not an emerging one.

I know the Sponsor has NOT been allowing apartments in the building to be shown for a while (I heard some story about interfering with completion of construction). This unit has not shown up as closed yet in any place I have seen. However, it may be someone who has scheduled a closing or made some other agreement with the Sponsor to show the unit "for rent only" so that it wouldn't be competing with remaining sales units.

re: emerging neighborhoods: I remember in the 1980's when prices went thru the roof in the East Village (most notably Christadora House). When people asked me about the East Village, my comment at the time was that I thought it was a great place to live, but if you're going to buy in an emerging neighborhood, you need to get the proper discount. But what you saw was probably only a 20% discount off of prices in the Prime Village, which, to me, was not enough to merit purchasing that risk.

This time around, we've already seen it in many neighborhoods, I think most notably townhouses in Harlem (I would yield the floor to mimi to discuss this since she has spent more time than anyone else here - I think - analyzing the pricing arc of thiose properties over the past couple of years).

Aboutready, not sure I'd call West Chelsea 'emerging.' Del Posto, Equinox, 1Oak, Cookshop, Chelsea Piers. Prices reflect that. Not everyone wants to live next to a busy subway/transit hub (a la 6th Ave or Union Sqaure).

parts of west chelsea are still very grim. and i'm very, very game. chelsea is one of my favorite neighborhoods, but i still say that these are overpriced for where they are.

and i'm sorry, there's a huge difference between not living on top of a transit hub and 11th Avenue. there are plenty of locations that offer peace without being that isolated.

If you get bored or lonely over there you can walk a few blocks and buy a Lamborghini

Do those Nouvel windows open so you can taste the delicious exhaust of the west side highway?

"Do those Nouvel windows open so you can taste the delicious exhaust of the west side highway?"

Why are you poors so obsessed with hating the west side highway.

FYI, that stretch of the "west side highway" is the 3rd most expensive neighborhood in the United States. You may not like it but you are poor and tasteless so buildings like 100 Eleventh Avenue don't really care what you think.

Christadora House--borderline hood got worse when the tent city set up out front--my poor friend lived through this

Re: that stretch of the "west side highway" is the 3rd most expensive neighborhood in the United States

now that's the funniest thing I've read today. Where exactly would that data be found?

Thought this building was close to sold out ?
Seems also only one or two apts have closed.
Any updates?

Noticed that still only twp apts are showing as closed--however, three apartments have already been rented and SE is listing 5 additional apartments for rent--is this the developer renting or brokers spec apartments? Why wouldn't these closings be listed?
Very strange. Seems not too much updated info available re: 100 Eleventh--would love some input.
THX

The Streeteasy data is screwy bc those rentals aren't developer units. I looked at a few of them & they were European owners looking to rent out. God knows why someone buys a $4m apt to rent out, but guess even rich people make dumb investments.

the europeans are just waiting for the dollar to get stronger against the euro and they'll cash in even if selling at a lower price. let's see what happens in about a year when the dollar will be stronger and they will be ready to deal these. there could be another glut of inventory.

Rave review of 100 Eleventh Avenue in the Times today from Ouroussoff -- "rough-edged sex appeal" -- full piece here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/arts/design/15nouvel.html?hpw

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Dear 30_yrs_in_RE: you called it 14 months ago. leaky windows and ceilings.
http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/tumult-at-nouvel-tower

I think any buyers of new construction need to take a close look on any post 2007/8 finished buildings.

Honestly, rather than looking like it's a legitimate expose, the article reads like it's sponsored by Eberle's gang, who bought high and are trying to get out.

Went there a while back during the worst days of winter, didn't notice anything resembling leaks.

I dunno, whole article seems sketchy to me.

It's a striking building.

But who the hell wants to live on ELEVENTH Avenue?? You'd have to catch a cab just to get to the A/C/E trains.

For what it's worth, I'm the one who posted this on The Real Deal page -

"I just visited this building to look at one bed units w/terraces about two months ago. I loved the way the building exterior looked. But inside, I'm sorry to say, units are very poorly designed, specifically how and where all lighting units and switchplates/heating units/control panels/etc. are located. The floors and walls look very shoddy. It felt as if Nouvel designed the exterior of the building and did basic layouts for the interiors, and then he allowed a local (and far less visionary) architectural firm to attend to all interior details. The rooms are blocky and oddly shaped (particularly the bedrooms), and I could see no elegant way to locate the basics of a seating area, dining table, and modest television in the one bedroom units. Although I love the glass curtain wall and think it's the best feature of the entire design, all I could think of when I was inside the unit looking out (and I did see a fair amount of rust) was the cost to clean and maintain it on a regular ongoing basis (in terms of the common charges)."

"The rooms are blocky and oddly shaped (particularly the bedrooms), and I could see no elegant way to locate the basics of a seating area, dining table, and modest television in the one bedroom units."

Silly mastsonjones!

The people for whom these apartments were designed live minimalist lifestyles. They don't have sofas, tables, or television sets. They'll lay a few rugs, toss a few cushions, and call it "moved in".

bakabakakun: I know for a fact that Eberle and his boyfriend got the very best deal in the building (on a sf basis) because Eberle is the one who did all the photography for the websites/press/branding etc. He's a pretty well know photographer with architecture being a speciality, and he traded his services for a 'super duper' insider price (whatever that means). So it's all the weirder that he's pressing these issues so hard.

"photographer-at-large for Vanity Fair" ... translation ... freelance photog.

""There were significant difficulties installing the curtain wall windows in the top floors of the building due to unforeseen wind complications, leading to the conclusion that the curtain wall leaks and does not work properly," attorney Justin Bonnano wrote in the Barber complaint."

That's the problem with many *architect* (or worse, "starchitect")-designed buildings; unrealistic and poorly-ENGINEERED "visions" that don't work in the real world.

Architects are not engineers. An ENGINEER would have foreseen those "wind complications" long before the building left the drawing table.

@matsonjones: can't comment on Eberle, since I don't know much of what his issues are. However, I do think the article is quite biased. I can tell you what I saw though, I thought the construction quality was quite good, and saw nothing remotely resembling a leak/spots on floor/bad window.

The location and layout are questions on another level. The former is actually one of the reasons I'm struggling with about this building. I think the proximity to subway is fine, my issue was that there are really no traditional chain stores nearby, that is, no starbucks, duane reed, whole foods. They do have Chelsea Market, but I've never shopped there, so I'm not sure if it's able to replace whole foods.

The layouts ARE unconventional, but I guess it depends on what kind of building you like. Some people like the more cookie cutter layouts, and some like the odder layouts. I assume that when you say there's no good way of putting sofa and tv in the 1br, you're talking about the B line. In that case, I agree, the curve makes it quite odd. But I thought the other lines are perfectly fine.

All in all, I still like this building quite a bit. It'd be interesting to hold put, and see how this pans out.

"But who the hell wants to live on ELEVENTH Avenue?? You'd have to catch a cab just to get to the A/C/E trains

And why the hell would I ever ride a train?

I'm considering the building and love the "isolated" feel of the neighborhood. In fact, its location is one of the things that swayed me here in the first place. The only thing I hate about the location is the intense winds during the winter. It's freezing down there!

"And why the hell would I ever ride a train?

Because one day you might become a bigshot who comes to understand the value of their time as you find yourself stuck in traffic on a 30-minute ride that would have been 10 on the subway.

A friends parents bought a unit here pre-construction on the advice they could "flip it" at completion for a tidy profit, that did not work out. At the time I thought they were nuts, but their son the broker knew better. After almost walking away from their deposit they closed and had a difficult time renting it for $12000.

If you have the loot, perhaps it could fall into the "trophy property" category? Art? Aesthetically I like the design...