THE LAST WATERFRONT PROPERTY?
Late last week, owner GID Development Group launched condo sales for three towers in an area on the Upper West Side that is also known as the Waterline Square. It’s hard to believe, but Waterline Square is actually one of the last remaining condos and units with true Manhattan waterfronts. Yet, that also seems exactly right, as the city is under siege by the creation of skyscrapers and state-of-the-art and mint condition apartment buildings that have their own incredible views of the water.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The three residential towers combined creates 1,000 rental and condo units. They are being designed by three different—and celebrated—architecture firms. Richard Meier & Partners Architects, Rafael Viñoly Architects and Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, will be designing each tower
Once complete, the project, which spans between 59th and 61st streets, will allow future condo unit owners to begin moving in in 2018. The Waterline Club, as it’s sometimes called, will have a total of 2.2 million square feet and a dizzying array of amenities and recreational activities. Condos start at $2M, with an expected 20-year tax abatement, and Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group is handling sales.
The Upper West Side square is purportedly being called the most exciting thing to happen here, because space is at a premium and a studio apartment unit costs over $2,500 and more due to lack of real estate transactions. The result: High six figures for a one bedroom.
AMENITIES GALORE
What’s actually exciting is the aforementioned amenities and sports activities that will make you not want to leave the building on lazy weekends. The amenity area comprises 100,000 square feet that will be shared among the three towers, as well as the three-acre park designed by renowned landscape architect Matthews Nielsen.
The three towers will include a squash court, a lap pool, an indoor skate park, an indoor soccer field, and the first indoor tennis court to be built inside any residential condo building in New York. There’s more, too. There’s a full basketball court, a movie theater, a 4,600 square-foot children’s playroom, a 30-foot rock climbing wall and even—guess what!—a bowling alley. Well, it’s a mini one, but it’s still a bowling alley! In addition, Waterline will also include a mix of rentals and condos feature luxury additions like a porte-cochère at street level and set-back terraces.
THERE’S MORE?
If that wasn’t enough, Waterline, which is screaming, “Rent or buy me!”, has other active amenities like a golf simulator, a fitness center, pilates, boxing, a yoga/barre studio, and a 25-meter, 3-lane lap pool, which will be joined by a separate children’s pool, a hot tub, steam rooms and saunas. For the creative, there’s an indoor gardening studio, as well as other rooms that cater to art, music, recording, video and photography. Like someone who has declared his love to someone and has not received a response, the “Pack it all in” amenities are designed to attract buyers and to get residents to mingle with each other using common spaces like an enclosed catering kitchen, a party room, a games room, a cards parlor and even a screening room.
A PEAK BEHIND THE ARCHITECTS
Since each architect is unique, Meyer features interiors by Champalimaud and allows residents an option to choose a white or “natural” finish. KPF’s unit will sport interiors by Yabu Pushelberh, and the interiors of Viñoly’s building will include what is being touted as “indulgent contemporary materials” chosen by Groves & Co. In addition, Rafael Viñoly’s design will be high styled, a 34-story tower with apartments that have exterior walls and which allow for stunning views.
