New York City Luxury Rental Blog Archives for April 2010

How Glenwood Does It: The Real Deal Sits Down With One of Manhattan's Premier Luxury Rental Building Developers

Earlier this week, we wrote about Manhattan mega-developer Glenwood's planned sequel to Emerald Green, the green luxury rental building in the resurgent Garment District that has been (yet another) breakout success for the luxury rental developers. Glenwood is behind a number of the most popular rental listings at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, and the company's carefully planned luxury rentals -- usually done in collaboration with architect Costas Kondylis, but always striking well-amenitized and intelligently done -- have an appeal that's easy to see. In The Real Deal, Adam Piore profiles Glenwood head honcho Leonard Litwin, and writes about the company's striking success during the ongoing (if improving) downturn in NYC real estate.

Heard the One About the Rent-Stabilized Luxury Rental Building in the Financial District? No, Seriously.

The meticulous renovation of the pre-war luxury rental building at 37 Wall Street in the Financial District speaks to the care with which architect Costas Kondylis turned famed architect Francis Kimball's original Beaux-Arts structure into one of the more desirable rental listings in the Financial District. It's a luxury rental through-and-through, but 37 Wall Street is also something else -- a test-case in a lawsuit that's looking to extend rent-stabilization to all buildings, luxury rental buildings in the Financial District notwithstanding, that were constructed with the benefit of New York's 421g tax breaks. The renovation of 37 Wall Street benefitted from those tax breaks in funding its overhaul into luxury rental apartments, and the New York Times reports that a December housing court decision could pass those benefits on to the residents at 37 Wall Street through eviction protections and, maybe, rent reductions. Suffice to say that the developers behind 37 Wall Street are not pleased.

Emerald Green Offshoots: Developers Behind Garment District Green Rental Emerald Green Planning 39th Street Spin-Off

There's no sense in trying to hide it: we at Luxury Rentals Manhattan love the Garment District's Emerald Green. The LEED-certified green rental building is not only one of the more intriguing new green rental listings in Manhattan, but Emerald Green's location -- 320 West 38th Street, if you're curious -- in a neighborhood otherwise fairly short on luxury rental listings (green or otherwise) makes it an especially intriguing development. More intriguing is the news that Glenwood, the heavy-hitter Manhattan real estate developers behind Emerald Green, are planning an Emerald Green sequel in the same neighborhood, at 330 West 39th Street. Even if Emerald Green weren't such a favorite of ours here at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, this would be an interesting development.

Verdesian, Solaire Developer Sheds Some Light on Green Rental Apartments (Among Other Things) in New York Times

When Christopher Albanese speaks, the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog listens. This is because Albanese's real estate development company, The Albanese Organization, has developed some truly extraordinary green rental buildings in Battery Park City: the Solaire and Verdesian. Two of the greenest green apartment listings in Manhattan, the Solaire and Verdesian were trend-setters in the burgeoning market for green rental apartments in Manhattan, and happen to be pretty beautiful buildings beside. Given your blogger's admitted soft spot for green apartment buildings, the Solaire and Verdesian are sentimental favorites of a sort, but the apartments for rent at the Solaire and Verdesian are also among the most popular rental listings here at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, so the favoritism isn't entirely sentiment-driven.

Rents Are Up On Manhattan Rental Apartments. So, Is the Renter's Market in NYC Real Estate's Time Up?

The Manhattan real estate market is a volatile and complicated thing. Given that you're almost certainly at Luxury Rentals Manhattan because you're searching for a rental apartment in Manhattan, you already know about the "complicated" part. But the volatility of the NYC rental market is what makes Manhattan real estate such a fascinating thing. Well, that volatility and the volatility of NYC real estate market watchers, who tend to freak out about even the smallest bit of real estate news. The Wall Street Journal's recent report that Manhattan rents rose 0.9% in the first quarter of 2010 is one such bit of real estate news, but the freakout it has precipitated is not entirely uncalled for. The rise in Manhattan rental prices was the first such bump in NYC rents in five quarters, and has Curbed, among other websites, wondering if the long renter's market on Manhattan rental apartments is drawing to a close. So, is it?