Overview

What do you get when a former Broadway producer joins forces with two former Hollywood production designers?  A spectacularly designed and uber-expensive condo of course.  To be fair, its been a while now since Steve Alesch and Robin Standefer formed the starchitecture firm of Roman & Williams and they’ve been on the ticket with Andres Balazs for some very prestigious gigs including 40 Mercer Street in Soho & The Standard Hotel rising in the Meat Packing District.  They’ve also worked on several projects outside of New York City.

This seven story, 15-unit building is being designed in a traditional style which blends in with the historical feel of the neighborhood.  And although the low-rise building is lacking the size and depth of some nearby condo projects, its intimate design choices provide residents with a private and secluded living space that blends a modern aesthetic with luxury.  The exterior consists of a red brick façade that is intertwined with seven-foot black wood windows set back eight inches and surrounded with serrated brick.  Wow!

Sales and marketing are being handled by Stribling.  Occupancy scheduled for mid-09.

Units and Pricing

Unit prices vary considerably but are very high across the board.  A smaller apartment consisting of one bedroom and one bathroom spread across 785 square foot is asking just over $1.5M.  A penthouse unit containing over 2,000 square feet of space is around $7M. These figures exclude the monthly common charges (approximately $981 for the one bedroom and $4,200 for the penthouse) as well as the annual real estate taxes ($921 for the one bedroom and around $4,000 for the penthouse).  The average price per square foot is somewhere near $2,000, almost twice the average for Manhattan condo space.  The building represents a very unique living opportunity but some potential buyers may squawk at the ‘Nolita’ location.

Design Details

The interior spaces of the building are very creative and well crafted.  Each residence comes with walnut herringbone parquet flooring, while the baseboards, casings, windows and doors are trimmed in black oil paint by Fine Paints of Europe.  Each living room comes with a wood-burning fireplace as well as 9 foot high multi-paned glass doors which separate the dining room from the living room.  The kitchens are incredible as well, complete with Danish oiled wooden countertops, custom solid walnut drawer pulls, integrated sub-zero fridge and your usual high-end appliances.  The bathrooms contain double sinks, brass fixtures, and creatively designed vanities featuring double mirrors. The bathroom vanity tops, floors and walls are intertwined with Calacatta Gold marble.

Penthouse units offered in the building come with an extensive 1,400 square foot outdoor living space that includes a grill area. The penthouse bathrooms also include a secluded shower and hot tub.

Amenities

As a boutique project aiming for privacy, additional perks and amenities are not one of the building’s main selling points.  With that said, the building has a 24-hour doorman/concierge service ensuring the safety of residents.  There is also a mailroom and extra storage space available.  The creativity and superior interior quality of these units should overly compensate for the building’s lack of fancy but often unnecessary amenities.

Location

211 Elizabeth Street is located on the corner of Price Street with Spring Street on the next corner down.  Houston Street is only a block north and the Lower East Side is just a 5 minute stroll to the East.  Nolita has, overall, a very eclectic population.  You’ll find ultra high-priced real estate and shopping sitting side-by-side with bodegas.  The same can be said of the residents—rich and poor—living side by side.  Overall the location in highly desirable for the trendy set looking to be within walking distance to restaurants, nightclubs, and vibrant lifestyles.  For the ‘stuffy’ set who usually reside above 59^th Street, Nolita is a place you ‘visit’ not ‘live.’

Investment Potential

The units in this building are a breath of fresh air–truly unique and not cookie-cutter at all.  For this privilege in a growing downtown neighborhood with celebrity design team, you will pay top dollar.  I would imagine that the crowd buying here plans to stay for a while rather than flip the property or rent it out to passer-bys.  It’s tough to tell at this point how smoothly Stribling can unload these units.  Hopefully a ‘softer’ economy doesn’t force buyers to look around at the myriad of less expensive alternatives.  We give the project an A for style and a B for investment potential.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pm and is filed under NY Condo Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.