11/20/08

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All about Yves

A mini-tower named Yves rises in Chelsea. The terraces of upper apartments cascade toward the corner.

What do a couple of builders from Queens and Long Island name a condo designed by a New York-based Mexican architect?

But of course: Yves.

Pretentious? Il n'importe pas. Despite trés cher price points --units list for as high as $2,500 a square foot -- the 14-story, sculptured glass mini-tower sold half of its apartments before the sales office opened on Dec. 1.

Would the units have sold this quickly if the building were called "166 West 18th Street?" Maybe not. And in that case, blogs like Curbed.com wouldn't run stories devoted to poking fun of the name -- and thus generating buzz.

"I've been getting phone calls left and right," said Ben Shaoul, co-principal, along with Marc Ravner, of Magnum Real Estate Group, developer of Yves. "We're getting so much activity on Curbed.com about the name. Someone wrote a short story. It's hysterical."

It certainly has brokers in Chelsea talking. "I think it's the coolest name," said Corcoran vice president Valerie Dominguez. "There are a million buildings around here that are super-bland, starting with their name. Everything is called something like 'The Grand Carlton,' and when you have something with just one name and it's a European name, it really catches your attention.

"The name says a lot about the building," added Dominguez, "even though maybe in the end, it doesn't."

Prudential Douglas Elliman agent Alexandra Bellak said, "Some people think it's kind of pretentious, but in today's market, you have to be different. You have to come up with creative names, give the building some cachet to draw people in."

When she considers the building's name, Bellak said, "I think of Yves Saint Laurent."

Bingo. Richard Cantor, co-principal of Cantor Pecorella, which is marketing Yves, had Saint Laurent in mind when he named the building in a brainstorming session with partner Dana Pecorella and Coby Levy, Magnum's in-house marketing person.

"Yves Saint Laurent denotes a certain kind of sophistication and elegance," said Cantor, "and at the time he started, his style was avant-garde."

"We were also thinking of some other people," he added. One was conceptual artist Yves Klein, one of the leaders of European Pop Art, known as Nouveau Réalisme. "His blue paintings," he said, "are cutting-edge and yet romantic -- sophisticated and very subtle on one level and also daring."

In an inadvertent nod to Klein, who is best known for his monochromatic blue paintings (some of which employed nude female models in place of paint brushes), architect Ismael Leyva has sheathed Yves mainly in blue tinted glass, with some green glass and stainless steel accents.

Standing on the corner of Seventh Avenue, the building bookends a block-long row of low-rise loft buildings -- with 100 West 18th Street, the new iridescent black brick condominium under construction at the corner of Sixth Avenue -- at the other end. The two join a spate of modern, high-design residential buildings in the heart of a rapidly gentrifying section of Chelsea, which has been historically commercial. Slate, a 12-story glass-façade condominium at 165 West 18th Street, is right across the street.

"The building will have a very sleek look," said Leyva, "with no mullions, and stainless steel fins in vertical and horizontal patterns. We're trying to emphasize the corner. The building is very visible driving down Seventh Avenue." The sheets of glass, made in Italy, are butt-jointed, he added, "so you don't see a hair joint in between the glass."

The challenge in designing the condominium, recalled Leyva, "was to maximize the FAR [floor-to-area ratio] within the zoning limits and contend with the setbacks." In place of the sharply defined setbacks some buildings use to grab every bit of as-of-right square footage, "the upper apartments have terraces that cascade toward the corner, giving the building a sculptured look."

To add a touch of natural green to the building, said Leyva, "We're putting in plants, hanging planters from all the terraces and balconies. We hope people will take care of them." They should, he said, because "it's nice to see some greenery from your living room."

Another challenge architects face with luxury condos is squeezing out the ceiling heights in demand today; 10 feet is de rigueur. "You try to get the client the amount of square footage he's allowed within the height limitations," said Leyva, "but you don't want to go with floors that are too low. These apartments have 10-foot floors."

Some apartments at Yves boast another amenity cropping up in new ultra-luxury apartments: double-height living rooms. The two duplex penthouses have 20-foot ceilings in the living rooms with motorized shades, in addition to fireplaces and large outdoor terraces.

Yves has 41 apartments ranging in size from 700-square-foot one-bedrooms to 3,500-square-foot four-bedrooms, starting from $950,000. The units feature floor-to-ceiling glass windows, American walnut flooring and custom kitchens by Valcucine with glass cabinets and countertops and Sub-Zero and Miele appliances. The Valcucine master bathrooms have Duravit sinks and soaking tubs, walk-in showers and Grohe faucets.

The condo has a fitness center and spa, featuring an indoor pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and treatment rooms, landscaped roof deck with lounge chairs, and an outdoor shower and concierge service by Abigail Michaels.

Sales so far at Yves indicate that well-heeled buyers are hungry for space. Many are buying more than one apartment to create huge layouts.

"We're doing several combinations," said Leyva. "We're lucky enough that they're happening before we start putting up the partitions, so we're able to do apartments that don't feel like a renovation. Usually when you combine apartments, you have to sacrifice the layout because mechanical or structural elements are in the way. Here, we can relocate ducts and pipes to respond to a new layout."

Magnum Real Estate Group bought the site for Yves in 2006 from Rose Realty Group for $25 million. "It was an off-market deal," said Shaoul, offered through a broker to select developers known for making quick transactions. Magnum expects to spend about $72 million to build the condominium. The construction is financed by Lehman Brothers.

Started just a decade ago by a then 20-year-old Shaoul, with Ravner, Magnum Group has several upscale condominiums in the works, including the A Building at 425 East 13th Street, 133 West 22nd Street, and a 40-story condo tower at 303 East 51st Street, in partnership with Kennelly Development. Magnum is also getting into the hospitality business, building a 30-story hotel at 140 West 28th Street.

Located precisely at the entrance of the 18th Street stop on the No. 1 subway line, the retail portion of Yves is drawing strong demand, according to Shaoul. But, as Chelsea is not quite ready for Yves Saint Laurent, "we're talking to all the usual players," he said.