Construction of Huge West Side Rental Tower to Begin in January

Silverstein Properties and Elad Group announced plans to begin above-ground construction work on their condominium development at 1 West End Avenue in January. The 42-story, 1 million square foot mixed-use tower will house 247 market-rate apartments with prices ranging from $1.25 million for a one-bedroom apartment to $20 million for a penthouse with terrace. The project has come under fire for including a so-called “poor door”, a separate entrance for the building’s 116 affordable rental units.

1 West End Avenue is located between West 59th and West 60th streets, at the southern tip of the long-stalled five-tower complex called Riverside South, a massive parcel of land overlooking the Hudson River.

The lot is one of five that make up the Riverside Center “master development,” and is one of the last large development parcels available in Manhattan. Silverstein and Elad bought Site 5 from the Carlyle Group for $160 million last year.

"We will be vertical in January and are just closing on $605 million in construction financing," Silverstein CEO Marty Burger announced at a recent luncheon.

Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the 42-story One West End balances soaring glass and slightly off-center sections atop a limestone base.

The tower will have 247 market-rate apartments spread across 440,000 square feet, beginning on the eighth floor.

Units will range from one-bedrooms starting at 800 square feet to four-bedrooms that start at 3,000 square feet.

Most units will feature wide-plank wood floors and gas fireplaces, marble kitchen counters and walnut vanities in their master baths.

Also, bronze mailboxes will be set into the walls outside the front doors of each unit, so building staff can deliver newspapers and mail daily.

As required by the 2010 rezoning, the building's affordable segment will house 116 units on floors two through seven, and will have a separate door and lobby at 10 Freedom Place.

In that part of the building, one-bedrooms will average 900 square feet and two-bedrooms will average 1,100 square feet. Rents will be between $800 and $1,400 per month. 

Amenities will include a 75-foot glass-walled swimming pool that will cantilever out from the tower, giving swimmers the illusion of being suspended over West End Avenue, as well as a 12,000-square-foot roof terrace with recliners, cabanas and barbecue grills.

The tower will also have a media and billiards room, children’s room, virtual lounge, catering kitchen, dining hall, salon and a fitness center with locker rooms.

Though the building’s so-called “poor-door” arrangements have come under fire, the affordable residents will have equal access to the building amenities.

The offering plan for the building’s market-rate condos offers a glimpse at how the other half will live.

The plan includes a $20 million penthouse unit, Penthouse A that will measure 5,873 square feet with a 764-square-foot terrace. Penthouse B will measure 4,046 square feet and will ask $12 million, according to the offering plan.

In addition to the penthouse units, Unit 29A will measure 5,377 square feet with a 3,714-square-foot terrace. It will ask $16.5 million.

Ninety-three storage units, measuring 25 square feet each, will be offered for $25,000 a pop.

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