BY THE VILLAGE SUN | Well, it’s taken a while, but One Manhattan Square is finally more than half sold.
Marketproof reports that One Manhattan Square had the borough’s highest volume over the week of Sept. 26 to Oct. 2: four contracts on 1- and 2-bedroom units asking from $1.45 million to $2.5 million.
According to the real estate site, “Extell’s 814-unit condo is now nearing 60 percent sold and has been averaging an impressive 7 monthly deals over the past year.”
The four contracts at the massive Two Bridges tower acounted for one-sixth of all contracts — located in a total of 19 developments — reported in Manhattan for the one-week period.
Contracts totaled $65.5 million with the average unit asking $2.7 million and $1,936 per square foot.
The colossal condo tower opened back in August 2019. At 81 stories, it stands 846 feet tall, dwarfing the next-highest structure around it, the Manhattan Bridge, at 335 feet tall.
The jarringly tall tower sports 814 residential units, the asking range for which is $1.2 million to $13 million.
As part of the project, a separate, 13-story affordable-housing building was constructed next to the luxury tower. For providing affordable units, the developers benefitted from the since-eliminated 421-a tax-abatement program. The 421-a tax breaks won’t expire at One Manhattan Square until 2040.
Despite the building’s slow sales, Marketwatch put a positive spin on things.
“It was the first supertall luxury building to go up in the area, and not only has it influenced several other big developers to plan large-scale projects nearby, but it’s found unprecedented success,” the site said. “Of note, sales velocity increased from 6.4 sales/month when sales commenced in late 2016 to 10.2 sales/month in early 2022, the third-highest in the city.
“The 81-story glass tower…has a 100,000-square-foot amenity package, one of the largest in NYC. The offerings include a 75-foot saltwater pool, a ‘sunken tranquility garden,’ an outdoor grilling/dining deck overlooking the Manhattan Bridge, a theater/performance space, and a sports club complete with basketball and squash courts and a two-lane bowling alley. It also boasts the city’s largest outdoor private garden (designed by West 8), which has an adult treehouse and stargazing observatory, among other areas.”
However, when the place first opened, one local observer noted that word was the building, hard by the F.D.R. Drive and the Manhattan Bridge’s subway cacophony, could barely even get Seamless delivery.
Separtely, Roger Bultot, a resident of 227 Cherry St., the project’s affordable building, recently sent The Village Sun an “autumn photo” taken from his window, looking down Cherry Street, which he noted, connects both buildings, at least visually.
A popular and affordable Pathmark supermarket was demolished to make way for One Manhattan Square — another reason locals decried the glitzy project — but a new market is planned. Bultot also sent some photos of the spot slated for the store.
“Supposedly, it’s a Brooklyn Fare supermarket,” Bultot said. “The signs went up last winter, but little work has been done.”
Despite local opponents’ staunch efforts to block them, two other supertall tower development projects in the Two Bridges area got underway this spring. Opponents protest that the market-rate supertalls will gentrify the area — flooding the neighborhood with wealthy newcomers and pushing out low- and middle-income residents.
If I had millions to spend on an apartment, this building would be one of the last places I’d look. Why would I want to hear the cacophony of the trains and non stop traffic, including mufflerless cars, motorcycles on the bridge and FDR Dr, mixed with the incessant roar of helicopters and seaplanes flying by their windows? Even triple panned glass windows wouldn’t drown that out. Plus no doubt like most of these so called luxury high-rises, the windows will rattle and the entire building will sway in the wind.