Apartment rentals New York with 8 Spruce Street

22 Thames Street Rental Building Could Break Downtown Record

22 Thames Street NYC

Designer of super-tall, super-skinny 432 Park Avenue, Rafael Vinoly, has taken his architectural talents Downtown. In his newest design, Vinoly adhered to the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” revealing yet another tall and thin tower for 22 Thames Street, which could potentially be the tallest residential building in Lower Manhattan.

Transforming the Former AIG Skyscraper into NY's Tallest Residential Building

In recent years, converting office towers into luxury apartment buildings has been a popular way of freeing up rental inventory in Manhattan’s Financial District, especially since new construction has been so hard to finance. Metro Loft Management has led the way in this respect, and they've built their reputation on transforming business offices into high quality luxury rentals; they presently own nine converted buildings in FiDi. The 66-story high-rise at 70 Pine Street is their latest addition, and once it is finished it will be the tallest residential building in New York and the Western hemisphere.

8 Spruce Street Rentals Reach Sky-High Rates

8 Spruce StreetWithin the next six to eight weeks, some of Manhattan’s most expensive apartment rentals will become available, as the Financial District penthouses of New York by Gehry are to be listed on the market. The three units are expected to cost renters $40,000-60,000 a month, a yearly price point that can be equated to a down payment on any luxury condominium in New York City.

An Inside Look at New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street

Manhattan Real Estate - 8 Spruce StreetNew York by Gehry, also known as 8 Spruce Street is one of the newest luxury rental buildings in Manhattan. It also has the distinction of being the tallest residential building in the United States. There has become a competition in New York and 8 Spruce may see its title as the tallest residential building in Manhattan challenged.

8 Spruce Street immediately stands out because of the building’s unique façade. Possibly even more impressive than the exterior of 8 Spruce Street is the interior of the building.

Because of the exterior of 8 Spruce Street, many of the rental apartments inside of it have floor plans that are unique. Just as the 8 Spruce Street twists and curves like a flame into the sky, residents can expect to find little nooks and crannies within the apartment that match with the building's exterior.

Are Manhattan Rental Apartments Now A Rich Person Thing?

Rich people things: New York City is full of them, from the hundred different takes on seared foie gras to the chilly boutiques of Soho and so on up and down the market. While our media has done a good job of making sure that New Yorkers are up on the latest trends among very wealthy New Yorkers -- and we've certainly done our part here at the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog, at least insofar as noting the popular renting-a-condo trend among the city's  star athletes -- there's a sense, at least for those of us still living in the actual-existing economy, that these are trends not worth chasing. Which makes it all the more appealing that, albeit at the highest of high-end price points, the wealthiest New Yorkers are now making like everyone else in NYC. Where most of us live in Manhattan rental apartments, the richest New Yorkers long turned to ultra-exclusive co-ops. Now, though, with uncertainty the word throughout the economy, New York's rich are opting to do what everyone else does -- and rent. Yes, they're renting the highest of high-end Manhattan rentals, but for the wealthiest New Yorkers as well as everyone else, renting seems to be the move. The reasoning behind it, unsurprisingly, is proof that -- at least when it comes to finding a place to live in NYC -- the rich are not so very different from you and I.

New York By Gehry/8 Spruce Street/That New FiDi Luxury Rental Tower: Whatever You Call It, It's Greener Than Advertised

Given all the attention that NYC real estate heads gave 8 Spruce Street, the game-changing new luxury rental building in the Financial District designed by Frank Gehry, it's something of a surprise that there are things about the building we don't already know. Any Manhattan real estate watcher can quote you the starting prices for studio apartments for rent at 8 Spruce Street -- around $2,600, if you were wondering -- and of course the name of the star architect behind this most well-observed of Financial District rental listings is right there in one of 8 Spruce Street's alternate names, New York By Gehry. But for all this celebrity luxury rental listing's sky-high profile, it's something of a secret that 8 Spruce Street belongs among on any list of green rental listings in Manhattan. And while that secret is out, there's also a reason why 8 Spruce Street isn't flacking its green building bona fides.

Luxury Rentals: Still The Famous Person's Choice When It Comes To Manhattan Apartments

Regular readers of the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog know that it's a familiar refrain, and just about anyone who follows Manhattan real estate knows that it happens to be true, but let's run this up the flagpole one last time -- in today's Manhattan real estate marketplace, it is inarguably wiser to rent than to buy. (Here's visual proof, if you need it) Of course, if you're already browsing the Manhattan rental listings at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, you're already hip to this fact. But if celebrity endorsements are more your speed, you're in luck. Again, it's nothing new -- we were on this when Kings of Leon singer Caleb Followill joined NYC apartment rental community in May of last year -- but Curbed reports that some of Manhattan's best known residents are opting to rent rather than buy these days. (That handsome and extravagantly well-compensated fellow at left happens to be one of them)

Condo-Quality Redefined, or What's The Deal With Rental Listings In Luxury Condos?

When is a luxury rental apartment listing not a luxury rental apartment listing? Well, if you insist on getting technical about a rhetorical question, the answer is "never." But, for a new crop of Manhattan luxury rental listings, the answer is somewhat more complicated. Some of Manhattan's most impressive new luxury rental listings are either partnered with new construction luxury condos -- blockbuster midtown luxury rental The Ashley, for example, shares an amenity space, a developer, and a number of other commonalities with The Aldyn, a carbon-copy condo with which it was co-developed -- or, in such posh instances as Chelsea's promising Eventi rentals located on the upper floors of luxury hotels. For William Beaver House, a new luxury rental listing in the Financial District, the story is even more convoluted -- developed as a condominium, William Beaver House is still selling luxury condominiums. It just happens to offer some of the most luxurious rental listings in the Financial District, as well. And there is, of course, Frank Gehry's luxury rental at 8 Spruce Street in the Financial District, which ranks among the most luxurious luxury rentals in Manhattan real estate history. The phrase "condo-quality finishes" has never seemed more literally apt, and less like a real estate buzzword. While this new proliferation of condo-rental combos can make for some confusion when browsing Manhattan rental listings, one effect is clear -- it certainly has deepened Manhattan's already deep pool of high-end rental listings.