It’s not often you see the entire dynamics of a New York neighborhood from a single rooftop view.
But that’s the case at the top of the Helena, a 597-unit rental built by the Durst Organization on West 57th Street and 11th Avenue in 2005.
Back then, this Hudson River-adjacent area was far less active.
Today, looking down, there’s a massive construction site to the north — the eight-acre Riverside Center development, where residential towers at One West End and 21 West End Ave. are slated to open in the next two years. Meanwhile, to the south is 606 W. 57th St., projected to be one of New York’s largest apartment buildings when it opens in 2017.
To the west, a nondescript sanitation garage faces an expanse of piers— remnants of this area’s past when it was strewn with garages and warehouses. It’s all now overshadowed by the massive silver tetrahedron next door at 625 W. 57th St., cutting 467 feet into the air.
That’s VIA, studly starchitect Bjarke Ingels’ highly anticipated rental slated to begin leasing next month. Developed by Durst 10 years after the Helena, VIA promises to transform this once gritty, forgotten waterfront stretch into New York’s next destination neighborhood.
“We’ve heard this area referred to as Siberia,” says Eric Von Frohlich, who opened Row House, a boutique fitness studio, at 555 W 59th St. with his wife Debra in 2014. The couple is banking of the arrival of upscale development to the neighborhood. Rents for a studio will average $2,770, $3,880 for a one-bedroom, $6,500 for a two-bedroom, $11,000 for a three-bedroom and $16,500 for a four-bedroom. Von Frohlich calls VIA “a tremendous project.”
For decades, the area wasn’t much more than a hub for auto-related businesses, including parking lots and dealerships, and long avenue blocks deterred New Yorkers from venturing too far west.
Durst Organization hopes that hype from Ingels’ first US project, not to mention an insane amenities package, will convince New Yorkers that the walk from Columbus Circle to 11th Avenue isn’t quite as bad as the trek to Siberia. (Helena offers a shuttle to the subway and VIA will, too.)
When Durst worked with the City Planning Commission to acquire a rezoning for VIA, officials were gunning for something that would serve as an iconic gateway into a neighborhood that had yet to find its identity.
“We saw VIA as an anchor,” said Douglas Durst, president of the company. And it’s far from the only development coming: according to real estate researchers CityRealty, there are 7,355 apartments planned for the area north of Hudson Yards (from about 42nd Street) through Riverside Center at about 60th Street, from the waterfront to 10th Avenue.
Many developments will be located within the orbit of VIA. Under-construction rentals include Frank, another Durst building with 120 units, TF Cornerstone’s 606 W. 57th St. with a massive 1,189 units, Dermot’s 21 West End Ave. with 616 units and Taconic’s 525 W. 52nd St. with 400 units. Then there’s the debut US project from Portuguese starchitect Álvaro Siza, who’s working on a 80-unit condo at 611 W. 56th St.
NYC newcomer Anders Lindström moved to a studio inside Sky, a new 71-story rental on West 42nd Street, for the quality of the apartment and the amenities he could get for his budget. “Similarly priced apartments in Chelsea or the West Village were terrible,” says Lindström, director of communications for Norwegian Air. “This building has too much going for it… it’s the best I can get.”
What Lindström gets is 70,000 square feet of resort-like amenities, such as two outdoor pools, a gym and a “Skypark.” A shuttle is included, but he only used it once on a frigid day; he doesn’t mind the 18-minute walk to his office in Times Square.
VIA also promises impressive perks for residents, seemingly a requisite for developments in the wild west. The package includes a swimming pool, sun decks, basketball court, screening room and poker room, among other bells and whistles.
In fact, Durst himself will move into the upper floors of VIA’s peak upon its opening, renting alongside hundreds of others.
Durst is not the only New York developer tempted by the Far West Side. Corigin Real Estate Group’s Ed Baquero moved into a building he developed at 555 W. 59th St., the Element, after it opened in 2007.
“Back then the area was covered with automobile businesses,” he says, noting there are still a few left. He decided to move into the 186-unit condo because “it was so highly amenitized, my kids went crazy.” (The package includes a lap and children’s pool, indoor basketball and squash courts and a playroom outfitted by FAO Schwarz.)
In 2007, “things weren’t right in front of you,” he says. Now “we’re anticipating new services … this new wave of development will bring explosive gentrification.”
It wasn’t long ago that 10th Avenue was considered a risk for retailers; now commercial developers are anticipating thousands of new residents moving even further west.
“I started an active search [to open a cafe] on 10th Avenue in 2011 and people thought I was nuts. They called it a no man’s land,” says Peter Crippen, owner of Rex, a cafe on 10th Avenue and 57th. Since then, Starbucks and the Swedish cafe mini-chain FIKA have moved in. But Peter thinks anything further west “is hard for small businesses … some of these buildings might not be finished for two years.”
Most of the retail west of 10th Avenue is still in the planning phases. Riverside Center will have 100,000 square feet of it, including a food market. The ground floor of Frank will accommodate medical tenants. “We wanted to address the needs of the neighborhood, where there’s not any significant supply of medical space,” says Corcoran broker Paul Wexler.
Jeremy Shell, head of acquisitions for TF Cornerstone, echoes the sentiment in regards to retail at rental giant 606 W. 57th St.: “Early in the planning, we knew we needed strong retail in the base to help create a neighborhood that didn’t exist until recently.” The firm hopes to include a pre-K school on the ground floor, which would complement the Collegiate School’s new building planned within Riverside Center.
The owners of Row House haven’t regretted their expansion into so-called Siberia. “The area looks uncharted, but we found that people are willing to walk the two extra blocks,” says Debra. Still, the couple admits that all the construction and car dealerships leave the area feeling disconnected — it hasn’t found its identity quite yet.
Nonetheless, as the Von Frohlichs expect their third child, they say they’d consider moving here from the Upper East Side for more space. But there’s one thing the area desperately needs.
“A really cool name,” says Eric. “Something better than the ‘Far West Side.’ ”