Closings have just kicked off at One Murray Park, the new 45-unit luxury condominium development in Long Island City along a recently renovated playground and park. The building, one of the few new developments in this rapidly transforming neighborhood, is now 64% in contract, according to CORE’s Doron Zwickel, who is handling sales and marketing for the building. Featuring amenities such as a doorman, fitness center, residents’ library, roof deck and indoor parking, One Murray Park is also entering the homestretch of construction, which makes it the perfect time to check in on the building following our earlier sneak peek inside.

(more…)

Left: Walker's Barclay-Vesey Building is featured on the book's cover; Right: An archival photo of Walker Tower

Last week Rizzoli published Kathryn E. Holliday’s Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, and this particular marriage of book and publisher is quite fitting. The legendary Italian publishing house was founded in 1929, just as Walker, across the ocean in New York, was in the midst of a groundbreaking run that saw him design such iconic Art Deco masterpieces as the Barclay-Vesey Building, the Irving Trust tower (now simply known as One Wall Street) and the New York Telephone Company building at 212 West 18th Street. The latter is now Walker Tower, renamed in honor of the pioneering architect, and undergoing an extensive restoration and renovation into 50 luxury residences.

This is the first book dedicated to the life and career of Walker, who was proclaimed “architect of the century” in a 1957 New York Times headline. Last spring, a public exhibition on Walker was held inside Walker Tower, based in part on materials pulled from this book. (Author Kathryn E. Holliday was in attendance and held a book-signing at the opening night reception.) The book covers Walker’s entire life and career and includes a passage on Walker Tower, a great example of Walker’s “humanistic” approach to architecture, which called for texture and ornament in design to uplift city dwellers. To purchase a copy of the book, click here, and head on over to the Walker Tower website for more on the building’s history.

A sampling of last week’s press coverage of CORE and CORE properties.

“Signs Are Up At 93 Worth”
Curbed
Lat fall it was revealed that the 13-story office building at 93 Worth Street in Tribeca would be converted to luxury condominiums, with CORE’s Doron Zwickel leading the sales and marketing efforts. Now Curbed has spotted some new signage at the site. We’ll have more on 93 Worth in the weeks ahead.

“Manhattan’s 15 Central Park West Fuels Ultra-Luxury Condo Surge”
Bloomberg
The listing of steel magnate Leroy Schecter’s two combined apartments at 15 Central Park West, which recently made headlines when CORE’s Emily Beare put it on the market, has attracted new attention to the famed building, Bloomberg reports: “Schecter’s apartment offers unobstructed views of Central Park to the east and the Hudson River to the west. The property is a combination of two units, one of which was rented by New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, that were purchased in 2008 for a total of $26 million, according to Emily Beare of CORE, the broker representing him. Schecter is renovating the space. ‘It’s almost like a work of art,’ Beare said. ‘It is an investment. You’re investing in one of the best properties in the world.”

“Walker Tower wows ‘em”
Real Estate Weekly
In a look at CORE’s ultra-luxury Walker Tower development in Chelsea, Real Estate Weekly gets an update on the building from co-developer Michael Stern of JDS Development: “‘The buyers are primarily New Yorkers, moving from uptown, Tribeca or SoHo,’ said Stern, adding that only one buyer so far is foreign. Though units at the building are unusually large, some buyers have opted to combine apartments.”

Though summer is usually regarded as the slow season for selling real estate, CORE’s new Long Island City development, One Murray Park, is proving that’s not always the case. The 45-unit building, which launched right at the start of the season, has just crossed the 50% in contract milestone–hitting 53%, to be exact. It’s no surprise why the building is enjoying strong sales success: One Murray Park, located at 11-25 45th Avenue, is the first new condominium development in the growing Long Island City neighborhood in some time, and the luxury amenities include a doorman, gym, indoor parking, roof deck, and library lounge. Being located right on the recently renovated Murray Park is a major attraction, as well. Current listings in the building range from a $385,000 studio to a 2-bed/2-bath unit priced at $900,000. To see them all, click here.

Launched one month ago, Walker Tower, the conversion of a beautiful Ralph Walker-designed Art Deco building in Chelsea into 50 luxury condominium residences, has been a hit. Now it’s time we show off exactly what people are responding so positively to. Above and below, you’ll find a handful of new images of the fully furnished model residence on the 10th floor, a 3-bedroom (plus home office), 3.5-bathroom apartment with an expansive private terrace. We’ll let the photos do the talking, but for more on Walker Tower and the apartment features and finishes, see the CORE listings and the building’s official website.

(more…)

“Water views” in New York City real estate don’t necessarily need to signify a pair of rivers. Check out the view from the One Museum Mile rooftop of Central Park’s Harlem Meer, the man-made lake (”Meer” is Dutch for “lake”) designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Last night One Museum Mile hosted members of the press for a “Discover Our Neighborhood” panel discussion, followed by a reception at star chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster restaurant. Of course, some attendees took some time to admire the views, like New York Daily News real estate reporter Gina Pace, who tweeted the above photo (along with some others). For more tweets and photos, check out the One Museum Mile Twitter page.

Photo by Daniel Silbert

The sales launch of Walker Tower earlier this week officially kicked off with a “View-ing Party” for real estate industry leaders, members of the press and friends of the project in the brand new, fully furnished 3BR/3.5BA model residence. The 10th floor apartment has a private 1,100-square-foot terrace, and a running theme of the evening was party attendees wandering off from the pack to discover, and become fully absorbed in, the unobstructed Manhattan skyline views. Photographer Daniel Silbert caught one such impromptu moment in the photo above. For a gallery of photos from Tuesday night’s event, check out CORE’s Facebook page, and don’t forget to “like” us while you’re there.

After many months of buildup and intrigue, CORE is thrilled to announce that sales have officially begun at Walker Tower, a 1929 Art Deco masterpiece located at 212 West 18th Street in Chelsea that has been restored, reinvented, and reconfigured into 50 expansive luxury condominium residences. These homes feature unobstructed and protected Manhattan views, ceilings up to 14′ high, custom finishes, the largest tilt-and-turn windows in the world, state-of-the-art internal systems and a comprehensive amenities package that includes full-time doorman and concierge services, lavish residents’ lobby and lounge, children’s playroom, fully equipped fitness center and a stunning “Top of the Walker” roof deck.

Walker Tower is the biggest and most high-profile new development launch in Manhattan in some time, and that has led to an amazing amount of demand. As the Wall Street Journal reports today, already around 25% of the residences are in contract at prices that will threaten or surpass various neighborhood pricing records. There is much to discuss about Walker Tower, and we encourage a visit to the new walker-tower.com to explore what this exciting project has to offer, and its current availability. Additional details and contact information can also be found in CORE’s New Developments section. We’ll have more later this week on last night’s Walker Tower “View-ing” party in the building’s newly completed model apartment. For now, check out the great story and photo gallery at The Real Deal.

There’s nothing like a scorching 95-degree summer day to give you pool envy, and seeing the above photo of the rooftop swimming pool at One Museum Mile has us in a downright swoon. The photo was recently posted on the One Museum Mile Facebook page when the private pool opened for the season, and the Central Park-overlooking oasis is not the only reason the building is getting noticed. Following up his CORE Talks interview in which he discussed the building’s design in detail, architect Robert A.M. Stern just sat down with the New York Times for a wide-ranging interview about his career. Says Stern, “I don’t see architecture as being about autobiography. I see it more as an art of portrait painting. Portraits of places, institutions.” Read on for more insight from the legendary architect.

At One Murray Park, CORE’s new condominium development in Long Island City that we revealed earlier this spring, sales have been in a “soft launch” phase, with showings by appointment only. But now it’s time to share more info about the first new collection of residences on the neighborhood’s newly renovated Murray Playground. Even in the soft launch phase, demand for the building has been incredible, with sales prices for the 45 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments matching the Long Island City market highs of 2006 and 2007, and in many cases, rising even higher. Now a number of listings have gone live on the CORE website, and we’re thrilled to share the first photos inside a model apartment.

Developed by Shuster Management and designed by architecture firm Fogarty Finger, One Murray Park, located at 11-25 45th Avenue in the rapidly transforming neighborhood, is the first new condominium development to hit the Long Island City market in over a year. Amenities include a doorman, gym, indoor parking, residents’ library, pet washing area and common roof deck. The building is being marketed by CORE’s Doron Zwickel, and construction is nearly complete. We’ll have a sales update on the project soon, but for now, enjoy a couple more sneak peeks inside the building below.

(more…)