Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times The unassuming red-brick building at 18 Gramercy Park South once served as Salvation Army housing; today it houses 16 luxury condos.The princely proportions of a floor-through residence at the repurposed 18 Gramercy Park South - previously a Salvation Army housing depot for as many as 300 women but now a sought-after destination with just 16 luxury condominiums - attracted a buyer with $15,175,000 to spend and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records.
This has been a recurring theme as the closings accumulate at the building, which used to be known as the Parkside Evangeline. A humble red-brick 1927 landmark at Irving Place, it has been reimagined as a joint adventure in prewar opulence by Zeckendorf Development, Eyal Ofer and Robert A.M. Stern, the team responsible for another parkside game-changer, 15 Central Park West. This project may be far smaller, but it does convey ownership of a coveted key that unlocks the gates to Manhattan's only private park. The billionaires who inhabit 15 Central Park West must share their park with the rest of the city.
The 4,207-square-foot unit, No. 6, has 40 feet of living-room frontage on Gramercy Park, as well as four bedrooms, four baths and a powder room sheathed in black onyx just off the grand gallery. Its seven-foot-high windows, a New Age amenity that required approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, have marble sills, and it is reached via a keyed private elevator entrance. The monthly carrying charges are $11,200.
The large windowed kitchen has cabinetry by Smallbone of Devizes and stone countertops; it adjoins a family room. The master bedroom has two baths: one contains a Gris Souris marble slab shower, the other a Calacatta Caldia marble slab steam shower. The three other bedrooms have en-suite baths, some with capacious Kohler Tea-for-Two bathtubs. There is also a laundry room with Miele appliances.
Zeckendorf Marketing handled the sale of the apartment, a sponsor unit, which sold at its original listing price. The price had been raised to $15.94 million after the initial offering, as had those on all the units except the $42 million penthouse, which was immediately spoken for by Leslie Alexander, a former stock trader from New Jersey who owns the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association.
The buyers of No. 6 are Simon Lonergan, a partner at Behrman Capital, and his wife, Amelie, an adviser at Credit Suisse Securities. According to public records, the two also own a Hamptons getaway in Water Mill. There was no information available as to whether they used a broker for this acquisition.
The next-biggest sale was unit No. 7A at 250 West Street, opposite Piers 25 and 26 at Hudson River Park. There has been a recent flurry of activity at this luxury conversion of an 11-story former warehouse in the heart of the TriBeCa Historic District to 106 amenity-laden condos, which was completed by the Elad Group in 2011. Since June, more than a dozen units there have sold or are in contract. No. 7A, with seven rooms, sold at $8.2 million; its listing price was $8.75 million, and monthly carrying charges are $7,026.
The 4,105-square-foot unit has four bedrooms, four and a half baths, plank oak flooring and Poggenpohl kitchen cabinetry. The master bedroom faces the Hudson, as does the living room, and it has a glassed-in rain shower and a soaking tub. The building's amenities include a 61-foot indoor lap pool and a 5,000-square-foot roof terrace.
Richard Orenstein of Halstead Property represented the anonymous seller, LB Noor 1; the buyer also used a limited-liability company, MSH Partners, which appeared to have been first registered in Dallas, but which in New York City records gave 250 West Street as its current address.
Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.
