New York City Luxury Rental Blog

Bragging rights for building the tallest building in the world have been passed back and forth several times. The most recent country to own these bragging rights is Dubai with the Burj Khalifa rising 2,700-feet into the sky and it is likely they’ll have these rights for a long time; they’ve been passed over from New York to Chicago to Malaysia and then Taiwan. Everyone has their eye on the prize of being able to say that they had a hand in creating the world’s tallest building.

In Manhattan, it may be a while until we can take back the title of the city that owns the world’s tallest building, but builders in New York City have developed a friendly competition amongst each other, a competition to build Manhattan’s tallest residential building. Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce Street, a luxury rental condominium currently holds the title of tallest residential building in Manhattan, soaring 870-feet into the Manhattan skyline. This year, 8 Spruce Street outgrew Donald Trump’s Trump World Tower as Manhattan’s tallest residential building, but it may not be holding the title for much longer.

Roosevelt Island has been getting a lot of attention lately, what with the Octagon taking huge strides in New York State’s green building practices and Riverwalk Court and Manhattan Park offering luxury apartments for rent in an extremely unique Manhattan neighborhood. Roosevelt Island, currently undergoing development, has been enjoying a burst of popularity and has slowly been climbing the charts when it comes to Manhattan’s “neighborhoods to watch” list. Now, Roosevelt Island gives us one more reason to take a close look at this tiny island on the East River: a competition amongst some of the world’s largest engineering and applied science programs for space to build a campus on the island.

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city is offering up to $100 million to the development of a major engineering and applied science campus on Roosevelt Island. Cornell University is among the colleges looking to grab this offer and strengthen their (already notable) New York City presence. The Ivy League school isn’t the only school, however, that is hoping to get their hands on this deal. Stanford University and other international schools are competing for the spot as well. But one thing's for sure: whatever school secures the campus grant will bring a new demographic to Roosevelt Island of grad students and college kids, likely spurring the development of this growing section of Manhattan.

New York City, ever known for taking the real estate and rental advice from the rest of America and throwing it out the window, is now going through a more unexpected demographic change. When we think of who actually rents luxury rentals, the first group that comes to mind is usually investment bankers, mainly those in their 20s and 30s who fill the tangled streets of Lower Manhattan early in the morning and seemingly beat rush hour both to and from work. That was true until recently, and while financiers still comprise the largest portion of renters, they no longer form the majority that they used to be. Instead, an eclectic tech-savvy generation has usurped traditional business, and in turn, the rental market.

The Mercedes name conjures up images of luxury and grandeur. These same images that are associated with the car company are associated with Mercedes House, which gets its name from the fact that it houses the Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan showroom. It is safe to say that this is one of the few opportunities in Manhattan to live above a car showroom. Unfortunately, it will not be like Oprah, where everyone gets a free car, but there are many other reasons why this building is being talked about.

One of the more notable things about the Mercedes House is its interesting design. The building rises up with a step-like pattern, one section being a story higher than the next. At one end of the lot, the building turns and continues its step-like like ascent into the skies.

This spectacular rental condominium building in Clinton is nearing completion. There is only one section of the building that needs to be completed, but condominiums are already on the market. Mercedes House is one of the newest condominium buildings with luxury rental listings to hit the market in New York City. A truly unique building is a seemingly perfect fit for the unique city that is Manhattan.

Here at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, we have already discussed the fact that the much-predicted and highly-anticipated traditional summer rise of rental prices is underway. Prices for luxury rental apartments have risen in both May and June, and we recently predicted the probable continued rise of prices before the summer’s end. There is more information available now that gives a better picture of what is happening with the Manhattan rentals market, and -- as is fitting for New York real estate experts such as ourselves -- the stats match our predictions. Based on second quarter reports put out by Citi Habitats and Prudential Douglas Elliman, it is clear to see that the rentals market is growing stronger, and rental prices have yet to hit their peak.