New York City Luxury Rental Blog

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.

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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.

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Age-Old Question Time: Is It Better To Buy a Manhattan Apartment Than Rent a Manhattan Apartment

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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.

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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?

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Another Reason Not to Settle for a Less-Than-Great Rental Apartment: Refrigerators as the New Closets?

Here at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, it's our job to help NYC dwellers find the right rental apartment in the right Manhattan neighborhood. Once said NYC dwellers have found said rental apartments, Luxury Rentals Manhattan exits stage left. All good.

But while we won't tell you what to do with your Manhattan rental apartment once you've finished your apartment search, we would like to make an exception to our usual rule to suggest, here, that you use your refrigerator for keeping foodstuffs cold. This doesn't seem like a controversial bit of advice, but an entertaining article by Alexis Swerdloff in the New York Post suggests that a new class of Manhattan "kitchenistas" have been forced to turn their refrigerators into additional closet space. This might be a good time to remind you that finding the right rental apartment in Manhattan is easier if you work with the right real estate agents, and that finding the wrong rental apartment in Manhattan could lead to... well, a flagrant misuse of your refrigerator.

TREGNY February Stats: Renter's Market on NYC Apartments Makes It Through Another Month

Every month, real estate experts warn that the renter's market for Manhattan apartments is on its way out -- soon, maybe next month, those rental apartments will be renting for more, we hear. And yet with every month that passes and every report that arrives from The Real Estate Group of New York (TREGNY), it appears that rent prices for rental apartments in New York City just aren't really going up very quickly, or at all.

(First, Terrible) Manhattan Rental Apartments of the Rich and Famous

Okay, it's not exactly hard news. But this brief piece from the New York Post on the first Manhattan rental apartments of such celebrities as SNL's Andy Samberg and Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter is pretty enjoyable. It's also pretty true to life for most NYC dwellers, most of whom have at least one story to tell about a rough-and-ready New York City rental apartment in their history.

Mid-Week Blogginess: Checking Out Chelsea's High Line Before It Was Chelsea, or the High Line

Ordinarily, as you've probably noticed, the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog focuses on things having to do with -- for lack of a better phrase -- luxury rentals in Manhattan. This can mean news on the NYC real estate market or specific rental apartment listings, or it can mean news on new rental buildings or a bunch of other things. This also means that sometimes it's kind of predictable. So, let's work on that.

Cash Back On Your Online Rent Payments? Sure, Why Not?

Well, this is an interesting one. While many luxury rentals in Manhattan already allow renters to pay their rent online -- all of the rental buildings from Related Properties, such as The Sagamore and The Sierra, allow renters to pay online -- a new company named Williampaid.com is offering NYC dwellers some pretty impressive incentives for paying rent online.