Anbau Properties and BKSK Architects have teamed up for another luxury green condominium project, this time at 124 West 23rd Street in Chelsea. As you'll recall, BKSK designed the Upper West Side's Harsen House (see image) for Anbau, whose 22 units sold out in just seven months and is awaiting formal LEED certification from USGBC. Despite the horrific lending climate, Bank of New York Mellon recently provided Anbau with an acquisition and construction loan for the project. The 16-story tower will offer 34 residences and 4000 square feet of ground floor retail. BKSK will implement similar green features at 124 West 23rd Street as Harsen House, and Anbau will seek an unspecified level of LEED certification for the project. Anbau paid $19 million for the project's 55,000-square-foot footprint.
We've written previously about the Harsen House; the 16-story, 22-unit condo project at 120 West 72nd Street broke ground in late 2006 and developer Anbau Enterprises sold the project out within a scant seven months. The building was designed by BKSK Architects (designers of the Queens Botanical Garden Visitor’s Center, which recently earned Gotham's first LEED Platinum rating) with interiors by Andres Escobar.
It appears that the Harsen House won’t be the only LEED-certified project that will rise along West 72nd Street. According to a report that appeared in Friday’s Real Deal, 200 West 72nd Street will seek an unspecified level of LEED certification for 196 luxury rental units and 48,000 square feet of retail space which the building will offer across its bottom 5 floors. The $200 million, 19-story tower, which was designed by Handel Architects and is being developed by the Gotham Organization, will rise on the southwest corner of 72nd and Broadway and should be completed sometime in 2009; leasing for the apartments will open early next year. The Real Deal reports that Gotham is “pretty close” to inking three tenants for the retail space, which ranges in price from $100 per square foot on the lower sub-ground floors to $550 per square foot on street level.
Last Thursday’s edition of the New York Post offered an excellent overview of some of New York City’s green apartment buildings in its real estate insert that’s definitely worth a look. While Josh Dorfman’s February 22nd gbNYC guest post contains links to many of the buildings that the article describes, I did want to point out a few items that The Post noted, including some quotes from various local green developers.