The Standard’s Lap Dance for The High Line

Its been a while since we did an architectural feature, lately we’ve been focusing more on public projects, and sustainable initiatives but this project re-piqued my interest as its connected to an urban regeneration project (The High Line) that I have been following for almost a year and a half now.  For any of you who are unaware The High Line is an urban renewal project in New York City that has taken the old elevated freight rail line that runs down the lower west side between 34th street and Gansevoort Street in the West Village, and at the moment most significantly through the meat packing district (MePa) that is sandwiched between the West Village and Chelsae.  The project will turn this former freight line that has been unused since 1980 into an elevated parkway in the style of the Promenade Plantee’ in Paris.

Hotelier Andre Balazs, owner of the Chateau Marmont and The Standard chain of hotels will soon be officially opening The Standard New York on a lot that would have been considered ‘problematic’ before The High Line conversion, but is now considered plum due to its immediate proximity. Which could be understating it a little, The High Line cuts across Balazs’ lot diagonally.

“For the first time I had a hard time imagining what the hotel should look like,” Balazssays. “I usually renovate older buildings, and this was ground-up construction. Add to that the matter of the High Line and it was a unique challenge.” S

As such the Hotel is suspended above The High Line on concrete pilotis, which suspend the hotel 56 feet above ground level and 30 feet above the track. This caused one real estate blogto mention that the Hotel is in a ‘perpetual lapdance’ with The High Line. The design is a bit of a progression through time periods. Overall the building looks a lot like a Le Corbusier, built in the International style. The building is two concrete framed glass walls bushed together at a slight angle. It evokes an open book standing on its end.

“If you had to look at this project from an urban-planning perspective,” says Balazs, “it gets more modern, in terms of building type and décor, the higher you get. The ground floor relates to early in the last century, the time of the High Line. The hotel floors, in the tower, are midcentury—I was looking at Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, and Arne Jacobsen, who had designed an amazing hotel in Stockholm in the 50s.” S

While many of us plebes would be unable to stay in the hotel once it has had its grand opening the hotel is currently open(ish) as the website states. Some of the rooms are open even though the construction isn’t finished a a pretty affordable rate. Check out the the hotel chain’s website for rates.

One of the things that I find most exciting about these developments is that they prove that things that once were considered eyesores and only worthy of being torn down can be re-purposedinto serious assets.  The park is considered one of the most innovative and influential urban-renewal projects of our time. With an imaginativeapproach to city planning, and some creative reuse of existing infrastructure,  we can come up with some truly stellar results.

The Curse of Duncraig Castle

There was a classic film from when I was younger back in 1986 called ‘The Money Pit’ with Tom Hanks and Shelly Long, the movie is the classic home renovation horror story. A happy recently married couple buy a home together. Except that they have  bought a home that turns out to be a serious fixer upper, and though all the work and insanity that ensues the marriage soon falls apart. The couple is left trying to coexist in a home that is literally falling apart around them, they have to repair it to a saleable condition so that they can unload the dream home that turned into a nightmare.

Linked below is a New York Times article on Sam and Perlin Dobson and the castle that has been been their own personal money pit, of course this story is in some ways more interesting,  there are extra  family members involved and even a forcible eviction of the grandparents… It makes for an interesting read, and may make anyone think twice about buying that castle ‘fixer upper’ that they’ve been thinking about. (I mean who hasn’t thought of buying a castle?)

The Curse of Duncraig Castle

By JIM RENDON

Published: October 2, 2008

SAM DOBSON LIVES IN A SCOTTISH castle set on 40 acres of forested land with its own train station, boathouse and two private islands. But when the rain picked up one evening in late June, as it often does in the Highlands, Dobson wasn’t warming himself by the fire with a glass of sherry. He was getting soaked in the courtyard next to the kitchen as he wrestled with a four-foot-tall propane tank. Natural-gas lines don’t reach his rural estate, so he needs the propane to run his expensive Aga stove. After loading the empty tank into his car and dodging both wandering sheep and oncoming traffic along the winding single-lane road, he would be lucky to get to the store before closing time. And without a refill, there would be no dinner.

‘‘It kind of makes me miss living back in Nottingham, where you could flip a switch for heat, or just turn the oven on and make dinner,’’ said Perlin Dobson as she stood beneath an awning watching her husband tilting and sliding the tank in the rain. Ever since they moved to Duncraig Castle, nothing has been simple.

Back in 2002, when Sam and Perlin first saw an ad for Duncraig, the couple had a successful business in Nottingham, in central England, buying old houses, sprucing them up and selling them or renting them to students at the local college. When they visited Duncraig, Sam fell in love with the area: the open spaces; the views across the tidal bay, Loch Carron; the remote and wild environment. ‘‘I thought it would be a magical place for children to grow up,’’ he says. Perlin, who had always loved restoring older homes, fell for the building, a storybook maze of stone-clad turrets, square towers and steeply peaked gables set on a promontory at the edge of the woods overlooking the loch. The castle was large enough that they could put it to work as a bed-and-breakfast or a venue for weddings and retreats. With the asking price of £350,000 — about $526,000, nearly three times the cost of an average house back in Nottingham — they figured the home could eventually pay for itself.

Continue reading at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/realestate/keymagazine/105castle-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Tapestries In Glass

The Residences by Jean Nouvel

While I have not intention of making this blog simply about real estate I do want to make another apartment post. As I mentioned in the 200 Eleventh Ave post a number of new buildings are springing up in the area around the highline and the new residences by Jean Nouvel are part of the regeneration of this area. The marketing write up for the new residence hails it as, “a vision machine,” while I wouldn’t go so far as to call it that, the project is a very unique in that the building has over 1,700 different and distinct pieces of glass to make up the façade of the building. The building’s web site explains it as such;

Interior Common Areas

“The buildings gently curving curtain wall of different sized panes of colorless glass – each set in a unique angle and torque – will sheath one of the most meticulously customized, high performance residential addresses in the nation. This dazzling window pattern will frame splendid views from within the tower while producing an exterior texture that serves as a poetic analog for the vibrancy, density and changeability of New York City.” source

The building is designed with a number of staggered terraces and uses large single pane punched through windows to highlight certain areas. Nouvel has designed a six story vertical garden within the core of the building with built in planter boxes designed to allow plants to fill the interior space.

I mean seriously a building with no two windows the same? Its going to be very unique, but a bit of a pain when it comes to replace those windows don’t you think?
For more information on the building see the site here.

Residence Interior View

Proximity To the High Line

Mississauga is growing up

Mississauga City Center

On of Toronto’s largest suburban communities is growing up, quite literally. Amacon Developers decided to release both of the buildings in its Parkside Village project in order to meet the demand for units.

“People were standing out in the rain waiting for them,” she said of the 36-storey Residences at Parkside Village and the 45-storey Grand Residences that became available last week. “Amacon didn’t want them to come in just to see a sea of red dots, and think that everything had been sold.” source

Absolute Tower, aka The Marilyn

The Parkside Village project is part of the eleven block “urban village” that Mississauga is developing in its city center. One of the features of the development will be its 10 to 12 feed wide sidewalks, to allow for cafe seating and an active street life.

Amacon has been in the news in the past for the Absolute Tower or the “Marilyn Monroe” for its sexy shape.

The development of the “urban village” fits with Mississauga’s changing demographics. The city recently released an ‘Engagement and Directions Report’ which shows that the population of the city is aging. It is expected that the percentage of the population over 65 years of age will shift from 8% currently to 25% over the course of the next 30 years. The city currently is not seeing many young families or much of an increase in the less than 44 age group.

These urban living style developments are in high demand for all these aging baby boomers, most of whom made the exodus from urban areas for that two story detached with garage in the burbs. However out in the burbs there are very few amenities and services within walking distance and transit is thin in suburban areas. Condos provide an alternative in a densely packed urban core.

The Parkside Village development project is on 12 hectares of property in downtown Mississauga and turning it into a more pedestrian friendly city with smaller block sizes, (Jane Jacobs would be pleased) and using communities like Montreal’s old part as a starting point. Abandoning the excessively zoned style that Mississauga was built with and building stores and restaurants, a recreation centre, a wine cellar, a film screening room, patios, and a hectare of parkland centered on a green arcade down the middle of the development.

I for one am happy to see any move in the suburbs towards urbanisation, and with the Greenbelt that now encircles the Greater Toronto Area we are likely to see more projects like these as these ring cities are forced to start going up due to both limits on sprawl and the desire of the population for walk able urban developments.

Emporis.com’s listing of buildings for the City Center development.

The Life At Parkside Site.

Mississauga's Potential Skyline

View Larger Map

Sometimes extreme makeovers don’t last.

Comcast.net is reporting that one of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” homes has gone to foreclosure and will be auctioned off this coming Tuesday on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse. The house was the show’s most ambitious ‘renovation’ to date, replacing the Harper family’s old home and faulty septic system with a four bedroom maisonette with decorative rock walls, three car garage, entrance lobby, five fireplaces, solarium, music room, and satellite home office.

After the program, the family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan to try to start up a construction business that ultimately failed. Back in 2005, when the family was given this house, the possibilites would have seemed endless, but then the morgage crisis hit.

ABC stated that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home. “Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families.” It appears that the show takes this into account by collecting donations for a home maintenance fund when they present the new home, however the thrill of suddenly having a great new place and a much fatter bank account can be a hard gift to manage.

click here to read the comcast.net article.

There is also an interesting blog post over at Politically Incorrect in Boulder

The author discusses some of the realities that families who receive these dream homes might face, like the giant jump in property taxes that comes with a new dream home.

Real Estate Video for the Harper Home

Basements of the Super Rich!

Homes Like Icebergs

The Times Online has an old article that I stumbled across ages ago that got filed into my bookmarks for use later and then forgot about. (My Urban Neighbourhood folder see’s a number of bookmarks come and go) It seems that there is a new trend for the super wealthy that inhabit London’s heritage houses. Plenty of homeowners ’splash the cash’ to create expansive basements and increase the square footage in the only places that the British capital’s heritage laws allow them–underground.

“Vast tracts of London are being dug up to create sub-basements,” he adds. “My clients are prepared to pay to create houses that push all the boundaries of luxury and technology. I’ve put in a swimming pool with a cover that rose, concertina-style, up and over the water to convert the space into a private concert hall, with seating for 100.”

Continue Reading the Times Online article.

Care to live on the Queen’s Estate?

Double fronted ambassadorial residence anyone?

Oakmayne Bespoke is in the process of renovating and restoring Cornwall Terrace into six residences and four apartments. The land which was formerly leased to British Land for their headquarters came up for sale after their lease ran out. According to the Luxury Property Blog;

Cornwall Terrace is part of the Crown Estate, and as such, you can honestly say that you live in one of the Queen’s houses should you choose to buy one. Cornwall Terrace is also a grade one listed building, and must therefore be restored in a way that remains true to the original features and styling.

The property is located in the middle of Regent’s Park overlooking the Rowing Lake. If you have a $100 million laying around you too could own one of these. Though the sales are by invitation only so you may need to contact Oakmayne Bespoke and flash them your bank account details.

200 Eleventh Ave

The Living Room

The 'Sky Garage'

Anyone who has spent time in Asia has no doubt encountered the car elevator, due to the lack of available space many buildings have car parks that operate like giant sandwich vending machines, or in some cases send the cars up to higher levels to be parked. The Hyundai department store in the town I lived in operated one of these. The building had a rotating circle outside the entrance to the parking elevator that would allow the valets to turn the car around after getting it on and off its shelf. Well the idea has officially come to North America, for the super wealthy at least. 200 Eleventh Ave NYC is a new 19 story tower designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf with stainless-steel facades that rise above a cast gunmetal-glazed Terra-cotta base.

To use the ‘Sky Garage’ tenants pull in through the street level gate and then into the car sized elevator. Using an electronic coding system the elevator then takes the tenant and their car up to the appropriate floor so that they can pull into their own garage. No longer will Mr Jones have to cart all his groceries up in the elevator or get the concierge to help him, he can simply unload his groceries straight from the trunk into his own apartment.

The building includes 16 units in multiple configurations including; simplexes, terraces, duplexes, and a couple different penthouse configurations. As illustrated by the photos the units are as swanky as an apartment with in apt garages should be, and they come with the price tag to boot. A cool $14million will give your car a garage that other cars will be jealous of.

The View From the Kitchen

Interestingly this development has shot up in the area adjoining the High Line, along with a number of other developments.

The Penthouse