The Astor on West 75th street, where the owners are applying to convert rental apartments into condos.
Not since Diamond Jim Brady walked these streets draped in sparkling jewelry has the Upper West side been quite so posh.
The New York Times and the Post both ran long articles over the past few days about the new condos and condo conversions coming to the Upper West Side.
The new inventory consists of enormous apartments, mostly priced around $3 million and above. And the building “boomlet,” as the Times calls it, will probably result in fewer total apartments — midsize market-rate and rent-stabilized rentals are being converted into huge condo apartments.
Translation: middle and upper-middle class families will have even fewer options on the UWS (the working class has been priced out for awhile).
We’ve written previously about some of these projects, but here are the ones that were featured in the Times and/or the Post:
- The Chatsworth, 344 West 72nd, which will shrink from 159 apartments to less than 100 (2,000 square feet and up).
- The Astor, 235 West 75th street, which now has 199 apartments and is likely to offer 100 larger apartments after getting state approval.
- The Orleans at 100 West 80th street, where “the least expensive apartment of the five [now being offered] is a four-bedroom, three-bath, listed for $4.6 million.”
- 498 West End Avenue (West 84th), formerly a rental and soon to be sold as condos. The prewar interiors are being gutted in favor of modern finishes. Forty-eight units will become 37.
- The Evelyn, 101 West 78th street. It is expected to shrink from 44 to 24 apartments and it’s not going to be called the Evelyn anymore.
- Two garages on 77th street that we’ve written about several times — the first is 210 West 7th — are being developed as ultra-luxury condos.
- 101 West 78th street, where “Newcastle Realty Services and GTIS Partners are planning a 16-unit conversion.”
- Several market-rate rentals will be redeveloped as larger and higher-priced rentals, asking about $10,000 a month for a three-bedroom. “Thor Equities, a commercial landlord that last year launched Thor Residential to invest in apartments, recently snapped up five rental properties in the area for its first five deals. They are a pair of connected rentals at 120 and 125 Riverside Drive at West 84th, which have 95 units; 150 West 82nd, near Amsterdam, 58 units; 840 West End Avenue, slightly outside the core district at West 101st, 40 units; and across the street, 838 West End, 69 units.”
There are a few rental developments in the works, including two from Glenwood in the 60’s on Amsterdam. The building developed by Friedland Properties that’s set to rise on 80th and Broadway is also likely to be a rental, although details haven’t been revealed. Some income-restricted rentals should be built as part of the Riverside Center development at 61st and West End too.
But with investors and international buyers hot for Manhattan real estate — about 35-40% of Manhattan condos and townhouses are bought by foreign buyers — and condo inventory still relatively low, it’s likely this trend of condo conversions and super-size rentals will only accelerate.
As a market-rate renter, it’s not hard to see the writing on the wall.
Well, you add in all the land use restrictions, rent regulations, etc., and the only people who are willing to jump through hoops to build residential housing will be the people building high-end housing. Building middle-class housing isn’t worth the effort and risk the city imposes on developers.
Well now, whether The Evelyn at 101 West 78th St will or won’t be called The Evelyn anymore, is it going from 44 to 24 apartments, or 16?
And, isn’t it worth a mention that the Attorney General stopped that conversion, as well as any further attempts to “remove tenants”?
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-announces-court-order-barring-developers-clearing-tenants-upper-west
And The Chatsworth, is it going from 159 to “less than 100” as the latest version of the Offering Plan suggests?
Or, will The Chatsworth become, as is bannered across its remarkable facade: “50 DISTINGUISHED RESIDENCES”?
Who knows what’s to happen to its Annex, besides the PH atrocity being plopped on its gorgeous rooftop?
And the Astor? (same developer as The Chatsworth) Was 212 apartments, now mostly gutted.
Who’s to say how many posh McMansionettes it will eventually be distilled to?
Prewar? check. Landmark? check. Housing middle class families (schoolteachers and such) for generations? check. What makes the UWS so great? check.
These guys aren’t “building” anything. They’re plundering.
The only “shrinking” happening on the UWS is its middle class.
And how to go about getting tenants out?
When a bogus Offering Plan doesn’t do it, try chokin’, floodin’, smokin’ shakin’ and scarin’ ’em out through noxious, endless construction.
no-income housing, however, is a profitable proposition on the UWS, as evidenced by the recent renewal of slumlord Aguila’s $3600 per room (not apartment) contract to operate a shelter in a neighborhood that has more than its fair share.
Does anyone know what happened to the residents of the buildings which are being “redone” and reducing the number of apartments while expanding the size and price of apartments?
How is it possible to empty entire buildings of residents? (These are not small brownstones which might convert from several apartments to single family use)
Market-rate renters would have to leave at the end of their leases. It’s more complicated with rent-regulated tenants. WSR
Lisa,
“protected” tenants – i.e. rent controlled, stabilized can stay. free market tenants’ lease are not renewed.
Pretty terrifying to think that New Yorkers, presumably mostly US citizens, are losing their housing (not to mention their housing options) to foreign investors
“..about 35-40% of Manhattan condos and townhouses are bought by foreign buyers.”
Apparently it is not enough to build new buildings (eg One57) for wealthy foreigners…apparently it is now OK to displace actual Americans from their homes for the benefit of foreign investors, for pied a terre for wealthy foreigners?
many foreign investors are just that, investors.
They buy condos here as investments and wait for it…..they rent them out…actually returning the units back to the rental market.
and yes, eventually they will sell them, probably to an American.
I wouldn’t get so hysterical with the hyperbole.
If you think foreign investors are good for a neighborhood come to London where entire neighborhoods are dark as foreigners from countries in chaos like those in the Middle East and Russia and its satellites move their money in. Communities are destroyed and the neighborhoods are dark.
Many of these investors see the UK as a safe place to hide their money while they encourage the growth of the very chaos from which they are hiding.
WSR, are there statistics for investors vs. actual live-in owners buying specifically on the Upper West Side (59th Street to 116th Street)?
If there are, I haven’t seen them. WSR
It is generally thought that the percentage of foreign buyers is lower than in areas like 57th Street/Columbus Circle and the Financial District, but I haven’t seen data either.
The silver lining is that, when the next global financial crisis comes, these foreign money-launderers will be dumping these apartments and we’ll all have nice large apartments! Or something.
Interesting piece from Crain’s about slow down in sales at One57
https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140929/REAL_ESTATE/140929870/midtown-condo-tower-needs-billionaires
[quote]The sales pace of almost 10 units a quarter in 2012 dropped to one unit a quarter in the first half of 2014. If the current pace of sales continues, it would take more than six years to sell the rest of the condo units. It doesn’t help that at least six super-luxury projects are under construction in midtown Manhattan.[/quote]
Might a “correction” be on the cards before these projects hit the market?
The developer has already pocket his nice taxpayer provided incentive payment and the owners are still enjoying massive tax breaks. I have no sympathy for them. The city needs to stop paying developers to destroy the city.
Well — I guess someone figured out that they can’t all have the best apartment : ) (sorry feeling a wee bit snarky today)
And we can thank local politicians like Gale Brewer for landmarking much of the Upper West Side, essentially freezing inventory:
https://www.westsiderag.com/2013/06/25/landmarks-commission-approves-big-new-uws-historic-district
Basic economics says that as demand goes up (especially demand from deep-pocketed oligarchs) and supply remains the same, prices can only go in one direction. up, up, UP!
The UWS used to be an affordable place for average families. No longer. Thank you, local politicians.
I’m not quite sure the dots are being well connected here. Without landmarking, developers would have raided and raped what makes this neighborhood different than any other. Just because the inventory has been capped by landmarking doesn’t mean that this sort of development is inevitable. Greed takes care of that, plain and simple.
Can’t the mayor stop this from happening somehow? We are going to push out all of the creative community. How can NYC turn into all bankers and lawyers? Interestingly enough, in most other countries, you have to be a citizen of that country to OWN property. You can rent but not own.
Well Amy you are in America, even the People’s Republic of NYC allows foreigners to buy in our free country. In fact it is one of the reasons our economy is alive. Its not like we make things here anymore.
As far as the creative class, they are alive and well in NYC and living in Brooklyn – and uptown in harlem , washington heights and Inwood.
Let keep in mind the poor remain a major presence on the UWS with the projects, shelters, and now the many many young white druggie beggars along the streets.
as far as the Mayor is concerned, he needs to encourage much MORE new housing. and I mean thousands of units.
this is a supply and demand issue. We need tons more housing. All the city requirements and road blocks only makes housing more expensive.
I would encourage massive buildings on all the underused land south of us below 57th street on WS. change zoning from Manufacturing and up zone for bigger residential buildings. If you object to that, well then realize our limited island will only become more expensive.
Most middle class Residents of NYC rely on public transportation, public schools, streets wide enough for deliveries and traffic flow, etc. Adding thousands of new housing units requires a supporting infrastructure. Call me a cynic but I don’t see that happening – it’s not happening now on the UWS despite all of the new housing units going up.
I lived in this neighborhood for four years. I had a good landlord, but he still couldn’t resist jacking up my rent whenever possible. By the rules of capitalism I guess I didn’t deserve to live there, even though I was a quite decent human with a very good job. Capitalism demands rewards for the highest bidder. All other considerations are irrelevant.
vjw
Home $$$weet Home?
Awesome! Seems like my modest 1,100 sq foot apartment will now seem like a bargain when I sell it. I don’t a lot of “negative” from the UWS becoming more popular and posh. It’s certainly better than it declining and since there is no such thing as “staying the same”, that leaves improving or getting worse. I’ve lived on the UWS for 20 yrs, Ill take improving, thanks!
I agree, as a little studio owner this is GREAT news for me, prices will skyrocket in the next few years.
This of course is nothing new, in the 80’s the Japanese bought up NYC, the 90’s was the Russians, now it’s Chinese and Arab investors.
As is always the case people did not buy when the prices were at an all time low just a few years ago, in NYC renting is for suckers. Even now in a positive economy, be patient and look for the deals, they are always out there.
This is incredibly naive and shortsighted. Yes, as one of those with a 1,000 square foot 2B/@B, we’ve certainly benefitted from the rise in prices the past few years. However, as a family grows and needs to update space, you’re stuck in the apartment that you have, as anything larger than 2B on UWS is astronomical. There are no “bargains” to be had, believe me, and the only way that will happen is if prices drop across the board. But then, you’re still stuck. And, for those “suckers” who can’t come up with well over $300K down payment, plus another 24 months of fluid cash, there’s no way to enter this market. That’s a shame, as there goes the middle class and slightly upper middle on UWS. There will be four classes: uber rich, uber poor, those in rent controlled apts., those fortunate enough to have purchased pre-2013.
This is a sign of a very healthy and well run neighborhood. Not a bad thing, although any change even for the better will frighten a certain number of people. No big influx of working poor families on the horizon, sorry.
With all due respect, it isn’t.
Outside from the Paris Apartments that continue to flip from rental to condo back to rental, who is loosing money converting or building on the UWS? So you make a little less profit on a couple of buildings. Major developers can well afford to take a smaller profit to build a few affordable buildings and some decent places for the homeless might be a generous thing to do as well. After all, while you can own 5 houses or more at a time, you can only reside in one at a time! You can drive only one car at a time, fly one plane at a time, drive one boat at a time.
The real estate bubble will continue to expand until it pops. Housing prices surged up at 18% in June while the city’s residence had an income decrease of .5% . There is nothing to sustain that demand (there aren’t that many foreign investors to sustain the entire market). In Hong Kong & Singapore (that had real estate busts in the past) they have imposed safety measures including mortgage caps, taxes on property flippers, and levies on foreign buyers as high as 15 percent. I doubt the mayor has the clout to impose such measures.
I predict within the next 3 years there will be a major correction in the NYC real estate market and a lot of these expensive condos will have to be converted to be smaller rent apartments to be able to recoup the lost in revenue. This city historically has always been a bust or boom town.
toronto’s see-thru glass slivers.
uws and manhattan and brooklyn generally will become that within a year.
inventory is being warehoused to create a false bubble.
china is sitting on see-thru cities and provinces.
their bubble is bursting and the apparatchiki’s kids are being told not to go back to china because the political turmoil could become lethal.
phantom flight capital based on fraudulent letters of credit from dubious banks fueling a newer more vicious round of real estate fraud.
and they want to turn the projects into condos? ha! the only thing stabilizing the uws and manattan and nyc is the cash flow to the small businesses catering to the underground economy and the middle class, disabled, and elderly and poor who live in the projets. reaching for the stratosphere whilst spiraling to the nadir of human decency and greed and ambition, misunderstood. wholly misunderstood.
but teh quadropeds shall prevazil–every human goes well with mango chutney after all is said and done. rich, poor, skinny, fat! all.