It was only a week or two ago that we published a photo of a new rooftop addition to a townhouse built in 1900 on West 71st street, and our readers gasped. The comments were almost unanimously negative toward the two-story addition, which stands out in the line of townhouses on 71st between West End Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue. Said one reader: “Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.”

Well, all that construction apparently had a purpose. The townhouse at 226 West 71st street is on the market, with a very hefty increase in its price tag since the last time it was sold. As Curbed first reported on Sunday, the owners (an LLC) are asking for $15.9 million after buying it in 2011 for $5.175 million. Based on the photos with the listing, it appears the modern white exterior extends to the ground floor in the back of the building. The buyers will be living pretty extravagantly, based on this description on the Corcoran website.

“This special residence presents an elevator that services 6 floors with a layout of up to 7 bedrooms, 6 full baths and 3 half baths of living quarters, and two floors of formal space plus a fully renovated basement. The exquisite full-floor master suite includes a white marble bath with grand steam shower, free-standing Agape tub and a 21-ft custom closet and dressing room. Superb natural light floods each floor through top quality floor-to-ceiling Optima steel windows and a dramatic skylight at the peak. Originally built at the turn-of-the-century, the interior of the house was gut-renovated and elegantly conceived with a modern interpretation of historic elements. Every square inch of this home has been masterfully conceived and beautifully executed with the finest finishes, innovative systems and luxurious, sustainable amenities.”

The view from the roof deck. (Silly neighbors, we will have our chefs slice the tomatoes  that you throw at our architecture, and eat it with some fresh mozzarella!)

So, has your opinion changed on the building after seeing the lovely roof deck? Let us know in the comments below.

Jewish Home Lifecare, a nursing home on 106th street that plans to build a new home on West 97th street, will conduct an environmental assessment of the site after nearby residents said they found lead toxins there. The state ordered the review on May 6. The site is currently a parking lot but could become a 20-story building. Groundbreaking is set for 2014, and the building is expected to be completed by 2017.

Borough President Scott Stringer sent a letter (pasted below) announcing the review. If problems are detected, the construction would have to go through a much more thorough environmental assessment.

Update: This article has been updated to include the fact that JHL was ordered to conduct the review (it initially said they had ”agreed” to it), and to include Martin Rosenblatt’s comments below.

Residents in Park West Village and parents and teachers at nearby PS 163 say that the lead would be disturbed by construction. No JHL at PWV, a coalition fighting the development, said they had the construction site tested and found elevated levels of lead, which “if disturbed by construction and made airborne would be toxic to young children, pregnant women, seniors, people with respiratory problems and others.”

“In 2012-13, a lead expert tested 100 samples of soil from this parking lot and 11 NYCHA parking lots, citywide. Analysis revealed that the highest lead level of all of the soil samples was in the 97th Street parking lot, as well as six of the highest top ten lead levels of all the parking lots tested throughout New York City,” the group said on a petition asking the governor to force an environmental review. That petition has more than 1,300 signatures.

Ethan Geto, a spokesman for Jewish Home, said the center plans to adhere to the highest environmental standards:

“The Borough President is correct in stating that the preparation of an Environmental Assessment Statement is now underway. As Jewish Home Lifecare has publicly stated several times in the past few weeks, no matter what level of State/City environmental review is required we in any case will remove contaminants that may be found in the soil according to the highest standards of safety to protect our neighbors. You should know that virtually every parcel of land in Manhattan tests positive for some level of lead contamination, and lead and any other contaminants are routinely removed from virtually every construction site without harm to neighboring properties.”

Martin Rosenblatt,  a resident who lives nearby the proposed construction site, said that Jewish Home had been unwilling to conduct testing until they were ordered to do so: “All of a sudden showing their good will and cooperation, JHL spun a tale about their good intentions,” he told us. Rosenblatt also said that Stringer’s letter was disingenuous in that it implied JHL had decided to conduct the study “on a cooperative note.”

The Borough President’s letter is below (click to enlarge):

By Malcolm Carter

It is always abundantly, sometimes pungently, clear who lives in some properties that are on the market.

Is it the owner or a tenant?  You can tell all too easily.

When I opened the closet door of the Upper West Side apartment in the photo above not long ago, for example, I literally gasped.  Like me, you won’t have to tax your brain to know that the owner doesn’t live there any more: The occupant is a tenant.

Maybe it’s ignorance, laziness or animosity toward the owner that causes tenants to leave the premises in such disarray.  Whatever the reason, I’d say it is unforgivable.

Even in a hot market, properties have to compete for buyers’ attention.  All they’ll remember about places like the one above — and the closet is just the bottom of the iceberg, as it were — is how sloppy the unit is, how little they want to contend with imagining themselves in it.

In the photo below, taken on the same day, no one could fail to discern that it is the seller who lives in the apartment.  The thoughtfully customized and organized closet reflects just how pristine is the rest of the condo.

You couldn’t miss how much care the owner has lavished on the unit, which beckons buyers with all the intensity of a sizzling steak.

If only sight were the only sense battered by rented properties.

Add the odor of unwashed clothes to a messy array of personal possessions on every horizontal surface, dirty dishes in the sink, a tub stained black with dirt, and you have a property that never will sell for its true fair market value.

Although sellers may be tempted to bolster their cash flow by keep tenants in place, they would do well to assess their orderliness and cleanliness before allowing them to remain while their investment is on the market.

The money they’ll lose in rent by retaining a slob is bound to be far less than what they’d gain by getting rid of him or her.  Vacant properties can be harder to sell than occupied ones, but they’re much easier to unload than polluted ones.

Below are some of the other apartments that I have visited and that various other brokers have listed (prices and other details may have changed since I originally saw them):

• A stylish one-bedroom condo at sidewalk level in the low 80s between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway.  With an awkward L-shaped kitchen squeezed next to a small bath with but a stall shower, lots of marble, a handsome built-in desk and spacious living/dining room, this 850-sf maisonette in a pet-friendly 1911 low-rise that has a doorman and a few other amenities was offered for an unconscionable $895,000 with common charges of $1,100 and real estate taxes of $546 a month.  After a substantial drop, to $799,000 early last month, it went under contract merely two and a half weeks later.
• In the low 100s on a corner of Broadway, an obviously tenanted studio that has a cramped interior kitchen with new stove and aged everything else.  The interior bath is dated, as well, the floors are mostly in good shape and the eastern exposure is into a courtyard.  Yet the co-op received offers even before its first open house, when it was listed for $279,000 with monthly maintenance of $692, and is under contract. 
• A lovely two-bedroom, one-bath co-op with inviting terrace in the mid 70s between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.  There are in the renovated apartment a high-end eat-in kitchen with marble countertops and a floor that needs attention, six closets and the possibility of adding a half bath.  In a 1922 doorman building that allows pets, it has an asking price of $1.295 million with maintenance per month of $1,609.  The unit should sell for at least $100,000 less, though, having found a buyer in three weeks, perhaps it did better than that.  
• In the high 90s between West End Avenue and Broadway, a gutted 1,066-sf condo that the sponsor will renovate.  With all rooms but the logical master bedroom facing a narrow courtyard, the two-bedroom, one-bath apartment will have new floors, skim-coated walls, and a kitchen that has top-of-the-line appliances, standard cabinetry and granite countertops.  The asking price of $1.25 million (increased by $55,000 in March) with combined monthly costs of $1,467 in a pet-friendly pre-war doorman building is nearly within reason.
• A full-floor condo with a wandering U-shaped layout, small balcony, small terrace, three bedrooms and three modest baths in a Central Park block of the mid 60s.  Among the pluses besides location are spacious rooms — den, dining room and corner living room — in the front of the apartment (with okay northern exposure), sleek (albeit windowless) eat-in kitchen, washer/dryer, fair amount of closet space, free private storage bin and ceilings higher than nine feet.  In a 1995 high-rise with full-time lobby staff and a resident manager, the unit has a listing price of $3.595 million with combined costs per month of $4,610.  The amount of space must be the only explanation that it went to contract less than a month after going on the market, that and buyer desperation these days.

Malcolm Carter is a real estate broker and columnist for the West Side Rag. A version of this post was first published at Service You Can Trust, Malcolm’s blog.

The brownstone at 226 West 71st street between West End Avenue and Amsterdam recently completed a major renovation that added a very modern two-story addition to a traditional old building built in 1900.

According to this listing, the brownstone, which once held multiple families, was delivered vacant. And the listing explicitly says: “It is outside the Upper West Side Historic District and could become one of many coveted Luxury single-family homes in New York or New York Investment Property depending on the Buyer’s need. It is not subject to Landmark Restrictions. As a result there are additional buildable square feet (up to approx. 8,000 Total)…The house is completely de-constructed internally with open floor plans, awaiting your architect.” It sold for $5.175 million in 2011 to a corporation called 226 West 71st street LLC.

A neighbor posted the photo above on Facebook with the following note:

“Dear Neighbors: Thanks for working so hard to ensure that the massive, three-story addition to your townhouse you’re building fits in so well with the existing architectural character of the neighborhood.” (Our tipster got us permission to post the photo and the comment.)

So, dear opinionated readers, do any of you have comments on the addition? Is this the new-new-new Upper West Side, and we’d better get used to it?

The Collegiate School is planning to sell its buildings on West End Avenue between 77th and 78th street to the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church for $97 million, and the church is likely to redevelop the site. In fact, Extell, one of the biggest development firms in the city, has already offered $97 million for the site.

The Daily News checked out court papers about the proposed sale, which needs to be approved by the court because it involves two nonprofits. It would include Collegiate’s two buildings and a long-term land lease the school has with the church. Collegiate has been at that location for 120 years, but plans to move to a new larger site on Riverside Boulevard and 62nd street in 2016.

The big new development on the Northeast corner of West 77th street and Broadway is close to completion, and it is expected to sport many of the high-end amenities that high-flying Upper West Siders have come to expect: a roof deck with outdoor movie theater, quartz counters in the kitchens, Italian tile in the bathrooms.

For most renters, these amenities and location will cost them about $13,000 per month for a three-bedroom. But for those who meet certain income restrictions, the price tag will be much much less. There are 37 “affordable” apartments reserved for people making lower incomes. Developer Friedland Properties was forced to provide affordable units because the loan was financed by New York State Housing Finance Agency bonds, real estate blog Curbed noted a couple of years ago.

How much less? Studio apartments start at $546 per month for a studio for people who meet the lowest income requirements ($19,855-$24,080). A three-bedroom for a family of four making $37,782-$42,950 will cost $1,039 per month. To fill out an application, download it here from Phipps NY. We’ve posted more details about the apartments and income requirements in the letters below. Community Board 7 residents (Upper West Siders) are supposed to get 50% of each unit size. Applications must be postmarked by April 23, and they must be sent by regular mail (be absolutely sure to read all the fine print).

When the Times profiled the 20-story 181-unit building last year, it was tentatively called The Larstrand. Its address will be 227 West 77th street. Given that few developments were built during the recession, the building is likely to be the hot new property on the UWS when it is completed later this year. And (shocker!) it will have a CVS on the ground floor.

To read our post on the demolition that occurred before the new buildings went up (RIP Manhattan Diner), click here.

Click on the letters below to enlarge.

Photo of 227 West 77th street by Ruby Gottlieb.

A movement to stop the New York City Housing Authority from unilaterally adding new market-rate housing developments on public housing land on the Upper West Side is picking up steam, as a new petition has been launched asking the city to slow the process down and allow more input. As it stands, requests for proposals from developers are set to be sent out last month.

The petition was launched by a group called “Save Douglass Houses,” which is made up of “residents of Douglass Houses and neighbors and supporters from throughout the Upper West Side.” The Frederick Douglass Houses project stretches from 100th to 104th street and consists of 18 buildings housing nearly 5,000 residents. Read our most recent article on the plan here — the piece has details about another meeting scheduled for Thursday.

Update: Mark Levine, who is running for City Council in District 7 (which currently includes parts of the West side above 96th street) tells us he’s behind the petition.

You can sign the petition, which is looking to attract at least 100 signatures, here. This is what it says:

The first, on Amsterdam Avenue, is a sunny one-bedroom with hardwood floors, a very large bedroom and a decorative fireplace. The kitchen is renovated with stainless steel appliances. Four closets  should leave you with more than enough space for all of your stuff. The apartment is listed at $2,295 per month.

See photos below (click to enlarge). To see the full listing go to Sandragreerrealty.com. Listing id#: 1069.

The second apartment is a one-bedroom on West 56th street that stretches from the front of the building to the back. And it’s spacious, not a narrow railroad. There are really two rooms you can stretch out in. The huge bedroom gets lots of light and has a decorative marble fireplace. The kitchen is filled with stainless steel appliances and has a dishwasher. The spacious closets were recently redesigned. It’s listed for $2,895.

See photos below (click to enlarge). To see the full listing go to Sandragreerrealty.com. Listing id# 1063.

“The seller is taking advantage of an extraordinarily hot land market,” Bob Knakal, chairman of the brokerage company Massey Knakal Realty Services, told Crain’s. “There haven’t been many development sites to hit the market on the Upper West Side in recent years.”

The site could hold various facilities based on current zoning, a press release notes.

“The site is 75 feet wide and contains up to approximately 92,000 square feet of development rights, including allowable bonuses. The property is currently improved with a six-story, 250 space parking garage. Allowable uses for the property include mixed-use, residential and retail, or community facility.”

In February, rental rates at one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms in Upper West Side buildings without doormen fell, according to a report put out by real estate firm MNS. Listings for one bedrooms without doormen were 10.3% less expensive on a month-over-month basis, and listings for two-bedrooms were 5.6% less expensive.

Rents are still well above their levels in 2012 — in fact, citywide listings in buildings without doormen are 30% more expensive than they were two years ago, says MNS. But as we’ve written before, the increase in rents seems to have slowed, or even reversed somewhat, in recent months. Because of the methodology behind the survey, the changes in rates could just have to do with a change in the mix of available listings, as opposed to changes in the prices of individual apartments.

Check out the rents from February and January.

February 2013

• Studio (with doorman) $2,499
• Studio (no doorman) $2,050
• One-bedroom (with doorman) $3,644
• One-bedroom (no doorman) $2,321
• Two-bedroom (with doorman) $6,281
• Two bedroom (no doorman) $3,629

January 2013

• Studio (with doorman) $2,576
• Studio (no doorman) $1,986
• One-bedroom (with doorman) $3,582
• One-bedroom (no doorman) $2,587
• Two-bedroom (with doorman) $6,074
• Two bedroom (no doorman) $3,845

Here’s where MNS gets the data: The Manhattan Rental Market Report ™ is based on data cross-sectioned from over 10,000 currently available listings located below 155th Street and priced under $10,000, with ultra-luxury property omitted to obtain a true monthly rental average. Our data is aggregated from the MNS proprietary database and sampled from a specific mid-month point to record current rental rates offered by landlords during that particular month. It is then combined with information from the REBNY Real Estate Listings Source (RLS), OnLine Residential (OLR. com) and R.O.L.E.X. (Real Plus).