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.

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

Walker Tower photos by David Dunlap for the New York Times

“Downtown Prices Are Set to Get Lift”
Wall Street Journal
Last week’s launch of sales at CORE’s Walker Tower development in Chelsea may prove that “ultrawealthy New Yorkers will pay some of the highest prices in the city for a spot in the funky neighborhood,” the Wall Street Journal reports. With 25% of Walker Tower’s 50 ultra-luxury condominiums already in contract, that certainly looks true. Read on for more about the project, including analysis from CORE CEO Shaun Osher.

“Developer in Chelsea Honors a Great Architect While Redesigning His Work”
New York Times
Veteran journalist and architecture historian David Dunlap explores a different path regarding Walker Tower’s launch, focusing on the complexities of the $200 million restoration and renovation of the pre-war Art Deco building, and explaining how new elements “were based on existing decorative motifs found in the building entrance and lobby or on archival drawings showing how Walker’s design evolved.” Also check out Dunlap’s great photos of some of Walker Tower’s original design flourishes.

“Walker Tower, 25 percent sold, gets a warm welcome from residential brokers”
The Real Deal

“Walker Tower: Historic Icon + Modern Luxury Will Cost You”
New York Observer

“See The Views From Walker Tower’s Opening Party”
Curbed
Completing a week of Walker Tower media mania, the building’s launch party and early sales success are covered online by The Real Deal, the Observer and Curbed, including some excellent photo galleries.

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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.

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

Photo: Nico Arellano

“House of the Day”
Wall Street Journal
At 72 Reade Street, an “airy, 3,360-square-foot apartment in Tribeca [that] still bears remnants of its industrial past,” listed by Michael Graves, was a Wall Street Journal House of the Day. Photo above, and check out the complete photo slideshow on the WSJ website.

“A tale of two markets”
The Real Deal
“In a still-difficult economy, developers are increasingly tailoring buildings to suit the needs of serious buyers,” The Real Deal reports, and that includes building “supersized” apartments into new developments. The list of supersized new buildings includes Walker Tower, where apartments average 3,000 square feet, and where CORE will launch sales next month.

“Best place of the week: 55 White St.”
New York Daily News
Ryan Fitzpatrick’s spectacular triplex listing at 55 White Street in Tribeca “has the kind of grandeur that evokes library scenes from movies like ‘The Music Man’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast.’”

“Houses of the Week”
New York Post
A turn-key condo loft at the crossroads of Chelsea and the West Village, listed by CORE Managing Director Vickey Barron, was highlighted by the Post.

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

“Walker this way”
New York Post
The Post’s real estate cover story on the booming new-construction condominium market in Manhattan led with a preview and rendering (right) of Walker Tower, where CORE will launch sales in June. Max Gross wrote, “The building — a 53-unit 1929 Art Deco colossus designed by Ralph Walker, which is being converted into condos with prices expected to average around $3,000 per square foot — still has an amendment pending with the state Attorney General’s Office and isn’t expecting to start sales until June. So things are hush-hush until then.”

“Chelsea’s Pricey Walker Tower Conversion Shows Itself”
Curbed
Following up the Post’s preview of Walker Tower, Curbed shared an additional rendering of the building’s soon-to-be-restored Art Deco entrance, adding, “Some of the detailing matches the facade, and this entrance is probably as close to these apartments as most of us will get.”

“Just sold!”
New York Post
Tom Postillo’s and Natalie Rakowski’s loft listing at 56 Warren Street in TriBeCa, a 3BR/1BA co-op with 2,020 square feet and 12-foot ceilings, was highlighted following its $2.35 million sale.

Square Feet: A Downtown Duplex with a Slide
LXTV “Open House”
Elizabeth Kee takes viewers on a tour of her and Lindsee Silverstein’s duplex penthouse exclusive in the A Building, which features an indoor slide.

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

From our first look inside Walker Tower. Photo by Michael Toolan.

“Exhibit Takes Soaring Look At Skyscraper Master’s Work”
NY1
NY1 real estate reporter Jill Urban takes a tour of the Ralph Walker exhibit currently on display inside Walker Tower, where CORE will launch sales this spring. The “exhibit highlights the impact Walker had on architecture starting in the roaring 20s,” reports Urban. Click through for her full video segment.

“How to make your own starchitect: Walker Tower draws buzz with book”
The Real Deal
Focusing on the exhibit and accompanying book, The Real Deal took a look at the inventive marketing campaign for Walker Tower, which CORE will launch sales of later this spring. “Marketing and selling is about educating the consumer,” CORE CEO Shaun Osher told TRD.

Ralph Walker: America’s Most Underrated Architect
Core77
The Ralph Walker rediscovery journey also made a stop at influential online design publication Core77 (no relation!), which offers a look at the exhibit and a nice recap of Walker’s personal history.

“Penthouse at Blue Hits Rental Market for $14,000/Month”
Curbed
The rental listing for the duplex penthouse inside one of downtown Manhattan’s most architecturally adventurous new buildings, which we covered on the CORE Blog last week, got picked up by Curbed, which added a photo gallery and dipped into the building’s recent listings history.

This week we’re sharing some prescient words from Ralph Walker, the late influential architect who is the subject of Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, the new exhibit on display within 212 West 18th Street, which has been renamed Walker Tower in his honor. This sign hangs in what will soon be Walker Tower’s residential lobby, and was created by Let There Be Neon, the legendary TriBeCa signage shop. See it before the exhibit closes on May 1!

The main exhibition space. Photo by Bonnie Burke.

Tuesday night marked the celebratory opening of Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, the first exhibit honoring the work of the influential architect Ralph Walker, who helped shape New York’s skyline in the 1920’s and ’30s. That name should ring familiar thanks to all the attention surrounding Walker Tower, the conversion of one of Walker’s classic buildings at 212 West 18th Street in Chelsea into 53 luxury condominiums. CORE will launch sales in the building later this spring, and the ground floor of Walker Tower is currently housing the exhibit, which is open to the public, by appointment only, through May 1. Go to the exhibition website for information on making a reservation.

The event also doubled as a book signing to benefit the Museum of the City of New York by Kathryn Holliday, whose book on Walker, also called Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, will be published by Rizzoli in September. For more on Walker’s contributions and the exhibition, check out the fantastic coverage by Dwell and New York magazine, and to see photos from the event — including notable faces in the crowd, and the impressive model of what Walker Tower will look like when the restoration and conversion is finished — see the gallery on CORE’s Facebook page.

As Curbed points out today, some signage has just gone up at Walker Tower, where CORE will be launching sales of the 53 luxury condominiums in this grand pre-war Art Deco building later this spring. The press has been following the project closely, but the new signs reveal an exciting facet of the project that hasn’t yet been mentioned. Beginning next week, the building will host Ralph Walker: Architect of the Century, the first exhibit exploring the life and career of the influential architect Ralph Walker, whom Frank Lloyd Wright called “the only other honest architect in America.” This exhibit on Walker, designer of the Barclay-Vesey Building, Irving Trust Building (aka One Wall Street) and of course Walker Tower, will be open to the public, by appointment only. It will feature large models of Walker’s masterpieces, along with archival drawings and plans, and interactive digital displays guiding visitors through Walker’s landmark career. For a taste of what to expect, and to make a reservation, visit the exhibit website.