Sales at Meier-Designed Tower Could Signal Pricier Downtown Market

The last of three Richard Meier-designed glass towers rising on the edge of the West Side Highway is nearly half sold, with two bidders in hot contention over the penthouse. Forty-five percent of the 31 apartments at 165 Charles St. are in contract, and a local real estate developer is vying with Hollywood heavyweight David Geffen, who owns DreamWorks SKG with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, for the $20 million penthouse, according to sources close to the deal.The units, which went on sale in April, cost between $5.3 million and $8.5 million for the 22 three-bedroom units in the building. One 2,553-squarefoot three-bedroom on a high floor went into contract recently for $2,895 a square foot, said a senior managing director at the Sunshine Group, James Lansill. The building has two apartments with only two bedrooms, both of which have sold, and two apartments with one bedroom, which have also been sold. There is one remaining studio in the back of the building.As for the 4,551-square-foot four bedroom penthouse, if it sells for the asking price of $4,394 a square foot, it would be the most expensive apartment to sell downtown, the president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, Jonathan Miller, said. A deal for the penthouse is expected as early as this month, Mr. Lansill said.The 16-floor building, which is wrapped in a glass, aluminum, and granite skin, will be ready for occupancy this summer.The price points for the building, which are on par with real estate prices for luxury buildings uptown, is helping to drive a trend in name-brand architecture downtown, experts say.“If the building’s sales succeed, it will prove that this type of product can be absorbed into the market, and it will spur more development by well-known architects downtown,” Mr. Miller said. “It builds a track record that other developers will follow.”A Douglas Elliman broker who specializes in luxury real estate, Leonard Steinberg, agreed.“The buildings are the most visible of all the designer buildings and are a clear leader,” he said.Other buildings by well-known architects include the Santiago Calatrava glass-cube building at the South Street Seaport, the Gwathmey Siegel building at Astor Place, and the Winka Dubbeldam-designed luxury residences on Greenwich Street.Nicole Kidman, Martha Stewart, and Calvin Klein are just a few of the boldfaced names who have bought units at Mr. Meier’s other glass towers on nearby Perry Street. Those buildings were delivered raw and have reportedly been plagued by infrastructure problems. The Charles Street building has also attracted Hollywood luminaries, including Natalie Portman, who bought one of the building’s two one bedrooms, and the owner of a travel agency, Michael Holtz, who bought two apartments in the building.The developers, Izac Senbahar and Simon Elias, hope the building will not have infrastructure difficulties like the others. “There were logistics problems with [the Perry Street] apartments because they were delivered raw,” Mr. Senbahar. “We have professionals doing everything so we will not face these issues.”Mr. Meier was given carte blanche to decide even the smallest details for the interiors, including 9-foot-tall, $6,500 bathroom doors and leather theater seats in the communal screening room.“This was Richard’s vision, and we wanted to let him paint the entire canvas,” Mr. Senbahar said.The Charles Street building, which has a 50-foot infinity-edge pool and a private wine cellar, has terraces on 23 of its units. Every apartment comes with wide-plank Wenge wood floors, double-glazed windows, and central air conditioning and heat. There are Bosch washers and dryers, Gaggenau ovens and dishwashers, and Sub-Zero refrigerators. The bathrooms are designed with white Corian, Dornbracht fittings, gray jet-mist granite slab stone flooring, frameless glass showers, an extra deep soaking tub, and Duravit bidets.As part of the process of allowing Mr. Meier free rein to design the entire building, the developers skipped a traditional aspect of development known as value engineering. This is when a project architect is hired after the design architect – in this case Mr. Meier – with the purpose of finding a more affordable way to adapt the styles to the apartments. Without value engineering, most of the fittings must be custom-made to Mr. Meier’s specifications at a much higher cost.“We didn’t do any value engineering, so it is very unique, and would be very difficult to pull off in a bigger building,” Mr. Senbahar said. The banks balked at the costs and financed about 60%, instead of the more common 80% or 90%, of the $100 million project, with the remainder coming out of the developers’ own pockets, Mr. Senbahar said.

Sales at Meier-Designed Tower Could Signal Pricier Downtown Market

More from the New York Sun

The Cloisters Embraces the Ancient Americas, With Uneven Results

Hunter Biden Claims Dad Was Pushed Out of Presidential Race Because He Was Not Part of the ‘Epstein Class’

More from the New York Sun

The Cloisters Embraces the Ancient Americas, With Uneven Results

Hunter Biden Claims Dad Was Pushed Out of Presidential Race Because He Was Not Part of the ‘Epstein Class’

Colbert Marks the End of ‘The Late Show’ With Performance by Paul McCartney, but No Explicit Reference to Trump

The Cultural Significance of Nicki Minaj’s Conservatism

News Aggregators Reinforcing Political Ignorance, Especially for Young Americans

‘Whites-Only’ Community Sued After Rejecting Woman Over Her Jewish Ancestry, Black Husband

Trump’s Tariffs Are Fueling Voters’ Frustration Over Affordability

Newsom Suggests Universal Basic Capital as Solution to AI-Driven Unemployment