By Patrick Hedlund
Zinc at $20m
A prime North Tribeca retail condominium on Greenwich St. has hit the market for $2.25 million.
The 2,900-square-foot space has 100 feet of frontage on Greenwich, Canal and Watts Sts, and sits on the ground floor of the seven-story Zinc Building near the Holland Tunnel entrance.
Restaurant or bar use is not permitted at the property, which has 17-foot-tall ceilings, but all dry uses are welcome.
“It’s rather poignant that I originally sold this site on September 11, 2001,” broker Alan P. Miller of Eastern Consolidated, which is marketing the property, said in a statement. “And now, eight years later, at a time when New York’s real estate market is completely transformed, I am pleased to be selling a portion of it again, this time as a retail condo in Tribeca, a neighborhood which despite the downturn in the market, has never lost its caché.”
We’re sure the broker meant “cachet,” because the neighborhood lost any semblance of undiscovered status when the high-rises moved in.
Tribeca, Soho stand tall
Tribeca and Soho boast the most expensive rental units in the city, according to an April market report from The Real Estate Group of New York.
In analyzing the prices of doorman and non-doorman units, the two Downtown neighborhoods topped the list for all apartment types across the board.
In Tribeca, average monthly rents for non-doorman studios ($3,020), one-bedrooms ($4,304) and two-bedrooms ($6,818) outranked all other Manhattan neighborhoods. In Soho, average rents for doorman studios ($2,714), one-bedrooms ($4,630) and two-bedrooms ($6,864) also bested every other submarket throughout the borough.
Since April of 2008, prices for all doorman units in Soho have risen 2.25 percent, while prices for all non-doorman units in Tribeca have slid slightly by 0.28 percent.
In the Financial District, the average price of all doorman units dropped by 6 percent year over year, while the price of all non-doorman units increased by 3.67 percent.
Truffles’ halfway point
The always-entertaining Truffles residential project in North Tribeca has rented nearly half its 291 units less than a month after the development opened its doors.
Since officially launching sales in February, 130 apartments have been leased at the Jack Parker Corporation development at Washington and Desbrosses Sts., said Truffles spokesperson Marisa Zafran.
“We’re very confident, and the traffic’s been great,” she added of the project’s success in luring renters, after prices were reduced by as much as $250 a month for some units to adjust to the economic climate. “They’re coming from all over the city.”
The building is also offering residents complimentary one-year memberships to its lavish private clubroom, Truffle Privé.
Grate design grates on board
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s controversial new subway-grate design recently got the green light from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission despite reservations from the community for its far-out appearance.
The structures’ undulating look, which would rise as much as 18 inches off the sidewalk, would help protect against subway flooding in low-lying Downtown areas.
Community Board 2’s Landmarks and Public Aesthetics Committee took issue with the curvaceous, stainless-steel grates popping up in the Noho and Soho historic districts, where they are being proposed for Broadway and Canal St., Broadway near Broome St. and Broadway near Bond St.
“Although the design is appealing, it’s a one-size-fits-all solution — a generic approach for flood-prone areas throughout the city, not with historic districts in mind,” read an April 13 decision by the C.B. 2 committee, which was unanimously approved. Community Board 1 also lodged its concerns with the grates last month, calling the design ugly and unnecessary.
The L.P.C., however, unanimously approved the design on April 21, noting that its “playful and sculptural quality” was a “more responsible solution than more expensive infrastructure changes.”
“I just thought it was ridiculous,” said Doris Diether, co-chairperson of Board 2’s Landmarks Committee. At a board meeting last month, she showed pictures of the proposed grates to attendees who hadn’t yet viewed the design, and they were “quite upset” with what they saw, she said.
“They can put in flat ones,” Diether said, dismissing the L.P.C.’s claim that the wavy appearance would suit an artsy neighborhood like Soho.
The M.T.A. plans to begin installing the grates toward the end of this year and finish within six months.
mixeduse@commuitymediallc.com
