Waterline Square Is New York's Fastest-Selling Development
New York has no shortage of hot new apartments on offer at any given moment. Top of the list, though? Waterline Square, a complex of of three West Side condo towers designed by Pritzker Prizewinner Richard Meier, Rafael Viñoly, and Kohn Peterson Fox, respectively. Even though the building complex on Riverside Boulevard (running from West 59th Street up to West 61st Street) won’t be completed until at least September of 2019, a staggering 53 apartments have already been snapped up to make a total sales figure of $200 million since the units went on sale a mere six months ago. All went for original asking price.
Developers revealed today that no other new city condo development with sales launched last year can match sales by dollar volume and number of residences sold. The most expensive unit sold so far is a four-bedroom home with a $15.5 million price tag setting a new price-per-square-foot record of $4,097 on that West Side thoroughfare. The entire project of distinctively sculptural buildings containing 1,132 units within a 77-acre plot, which oddly enough was once home to the Penn Central Railroad freight rail-yard.
In terms of an urban development, it’s visionary. “Waterline Square presented us with an exceptionally rare opportunity to develop a project of this magnitude, and on one of the last remaining waterfront development sites along Riverside Boulevard," says James Linsley, GID Development Group President. "The combination of amazing location, unprecedented amenity program, new park and open spaces, outstanding views, and an innovative food hall by Cipriani, along with a collection of three of the world’s most celebrated architects will offer future residents a living experience that is unlike any other in New York City,” he adds. “The best part is that it's being built all at the same time to form a completed neighborhood."
Reynolds Logan, associate partner at Richard Meier & Partners Architects says, “These are not tower objects buried in their otherwise undistinguished dense urban streetscape, but a unique ensemble anchoring Riverside South and connecting area residents to the Hudson River Waterfront.” The firm’s bold, geometric glass tower sports a number of terraces linking the outside with the inside.
Why the frenzied demand? Well, the fact that the project boasts those AD 100 architects along with AD 100 interior designers Alexandra Champalimaud, Yabu Pushelberg, and Russell Groves makes Waterline Square a winner. "Waterline Square was designed as a respite with a sense of quiet at the edge of a vibrant, pulsating city and we wanted to design interiors embodied refined elegance," Champalimaud says of her design, for the Meier tower. Back painted white glass, European cabinetry, book-matched marble, metal-trimmed fabric inlays are just a few details.
Plus, the fact that a 20 year tax abatement is in the wings is yet another inducement. Will demand for the Waterline Square abodes leave stylish Park Avenue buildings in the dust? Stay tuned!
