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.
Why? Well, in part because no one is really building new residential buildings in Manhattan right now -- The Real Deal reports that New York City issued 82 percent fewer residential building permits in 2009 than it did in 2008. And while we spend a lot of time here at LRM wondering when and if the NYC real estate market will/has turned turned, the fact that Glenwood is betting on there being a market for a new rental listing at 330 West 39th Street is an indicator of... well, something, presumably. Mostly, though, this is news because Glenwood's Manhattan rental properties are among the finest luxury rentals out there, and the addition of a new Glenwood rental building to the greater Garment District/Chelsea/Clinton area is worthy of note.
"It's Glenwood's first new project planned entirely after the recession began," the New York Observer's Dana Rubinstein writes. "'We have confidence in the local market and we hold long term,' said Glenwood executive vice president Gary Jacob. 'So even if the market is weak, we feel in the long term it will be a good investment for us.'"
The new building, which is as yet unnamed and may or may not pursue a LEED certification, still needs to be approved by the city. Rest assured we'll be keeping our eye on this one.
