MANHATTAN – The 11-story, 31-unit boutique condo called 15 Renwick, standing in Hudson Square, will only include three parking spaces in its 1,000-square-foot garage. It will have a remote-controlled gate and direct access to the lobby, offering what the city’s elite covet: privacy.
The three parking spaces are expected to hit the market soon for $ 1 million each, according to Dan Oelsner, vice president of development for IGI-USA, which is building the project.
The locations, which will be listed along with the project’s $ 7.15 million penthouses and $ 3.5 million townhouses, were limited due to zoning and architectural considerations, Oelsner noted. .
“This type of equipment is very unique for a new development in this neighborhood,” Oelsner said.
With the number of parking lots in Manhattan disappearing – often to make way for new luxury developments – and although the number of parking spaces a developer is allowed to include remains limited – typically at 20% of the number of units residential – a private parking space becomes the ultimate status symbol.
Many developers are also betting on the next best thing: a carriage porch, which allows you to enter your building and exit your car without the masses seeing it while a valet pulls the train station for you somewhere nearby.
“The city is obviously trying to deter car traffic in Manhattan,” said Richard Cantor, of Cantor-Pecorella, an agency responsible for the sale and marketing of several new buildings with high-end garage equipment.
“[Parking] is probably the most important piece of equipment you can have in Manhattan today. People are willing to pay for it, ”he added.
Car rates in Manhattan, south of 96th Street, tend to be lower than the city average. Twenty-two percent of households in this part of Manhattan own a car, compared to 46 percent in the city as a whole. But many of the new luxury buildings developing in the area have sprawling apartments that cater to families who often own cars.
Meanwhile, Manhattan, south of 96th Street, saw a decrease of approximately 25,000 off-street public parking spaces from 1978 to 2010, according to a study by the Department of Town Planning.
The 102,000 remaining spaces cited in the report are shrinking as garages give way to these new luxury skyscrapers.
Garages tend to be top-notch development sites as they are often unmarked and can be delivered quickly as there are no tenants who would be moved, Cantor explained. His company markets 12 East 13th St. in the Village, where eight luxury units stand in place of a Hertz garage that had been there since the 1930s.
Due to the previous use of the space, the building may offer a private location for each unit. Additionally, there will be two additional spaces for sale at around $ 500,000 each, he said. (Units range from $ 6.95 million to $ 30.5 million.)
And because it was previously a garage, the building can have parking spaces on the second floor, freeing up real estate on the ground floor for income-generating uses like retail, he noted.
It will be the first building in Manhattan to use the latest version of a robotic parking system by Park More, which will automatically pick up a buyer’s car in about 60 seconds, according to building officials.
“This is the parking lot of the future. You call your car on your iPhone and it’s down to the first floor and you can slide right away.
“Buyers have responded to this approval,” Cantor said. “In the Village, this is particularly important because there is hardly any [on-street] parking – you have to move your car and drive all the way [alternate side] Dance.”
Cantor’s firm is also working on 443 Greenwich, a 53-unit building with a majestic-looking garage with a carriage entrance with white Gustavino tiled ceilings and terracotta floors.
The garage will have 15 parking spaces, each with an electric charging station, costing $ 850,000 each or $ 1.5 million for two – prices that have already risen since initial plans called for $ 500,000 in individual spaces. and $ 1 million for double seats, Cantor said. (Units range from $ 7 million to $ 51 million.)
For residents who do not purchase a parking space, a valet will park their car in the nearby TriBeCa garages.
“What we have created at 443 Greenwich responds both to a need for privacy, especially for celebrity shoppers, and also provides convenience as we have created a private area where you can park your car and leave it there. for several hours – do what you have to do – and no one sees you in the street. “
At Chelsea 551W21, the inclusion of a private parking area with valet service (in addition to a parking lot with 30 to 53 places, many with electric charging stations, the prices of which are to be determined) was considered as a ” major component “of building inspiration:” the white glove services of a bygone era, “said Erin Boisson Aries, senior general manager of building sales.
The land has a 30 foot high green wall with lush climbing ivy that will change color with the seasons. The space is intended not only to provide privacy to residents of the 44-unit apartment building where apartments will cost between $ 7.25 million and $ 40 million, but “also a sense of comfort, discretion and privacy. of distinction, ”Aries said.
There are no parking spaces at 20 east end avenue., on the Upper East Side, but there is a large enclosed motorized courtyard accessed through a 20-foot-high arched opening from the building into a paved area with a fountain and room for eight cars.
Its design pays homage to eloquent buildings like the Dakota and the Apthorp and will join the ranks as one of only five such buildings with a true porte-cochere motor court – the first to be built in 80 years, said Nicole Siciliano-Trazzera, sales manager for the project.
Siciliano-Trazzera noted that the project, like others with high-end garage equipment, is targeting sales on families who will make these units their primary residence (even if they have other homes) rather than on families. investors. The units are asking for between 4.5 and over 35 million dollars.
Families will be able to drive into the 43-unit building to unload their children and luggage in privacy, then have a staff runner park it in one of the two garages flanking the building, she added.
“You can lead a normal life without having to live in the suburbs,” she said, adding, “You’ve never seen the inside of a garage.”