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.

You’ve got your fired-up barbecues, of course. And the beach trips and baseball games and farmer’s markets and sweltering subway stations and, with ever more frequency, weather nice enough to induce the urge to simply lie down and relax wherever or take long, otherwise unmotivated walks. All of which is to say that it’s officially and incontrovertibly summer in New York City. With all those good things (and the sweltering subways, which one eventually just learns to deal with) comes another NYC summer tradition -- the arrival of the annual warm-weather boom in Manhattan real estate. We noted its first green shoots in the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog last month, and -- same as it does every summer -- the Manhattan luxury rental marketplace is in something very much like full bloom as July arrives.

Of course, as anyone searching for an apartment in NYC already knows, the words “strong Manhattan real estate market” bode better for landlords than those browsing Manhattan rental listings. But there’s good news for both renters and landlords alike in June’s luxury rental statistics. Sustained high demand and lower vacancy rates will (as they usually do) delight landlords. But those browsing Manhattan rental listings can take heart knowing that there are still plenty of deals to be had on luxury rental apartments.

Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen is burning up these days as a host of new construction condo developments have helped the once warehouse-full neighborhood earn its status as one of the most in-demand neighborhoods in Manhattan real estate. Hell’s Kitchen is saying goodbye to old patches of cement meant for parking lots and boarded-up buildings that waste space, and those browsing Manhattan rental listings can attest to the fact that the new Hell's Kitchen rentals that have risen from those formerly vacant lots are very appealing indeed.

The Wall Street Journal traces the rise to popularity of this once-underdeveloped -- and poorly named: we, and you, should be calling it Clinton these days -- neighborhood, thanks in large part to a bumper crop of new construction luxury rental developments. And with these new apartment complexes comes a demand for more commercial business to move into the area; Hell’s Kitchen's future looks bright not only in terms of new luxury rental housing, but in terms of the commercial development that will follow on behind.

The Manhattan real estate market is a complicated thing, as any regular Luxury Rentals Manhattan visitor -- and anyone who has ever tried to find a rental apartment in Manhattan -- could tell you. But one of the most peculiar features of the ongoing turnaround in the Manhattan rental marketplace is just how much more quickly the market for high-end Manhattan luxury rentals has turned around than has, say, the market for $2500-per-month Manhattan rental apartments. Given that there are more people in New York capable of paying more modest monthly rents than there are those willing or able to cut five-figure checks on the first of each month, the turnaround would seem to be somewhat backwards. But this is Manhattan real estate, and the top-down turnaround has become both harder and harder to ignore and -- per a recent New York Times report -- even more pronounced in the early months of summer. The demand for five-figure NYC rental apartments has been higher than that for smaller, less expensive Manhattan apartments.  So, what exactly does this mean for Manhattan real estate?