|
Old Setting, New Style
SoHo 25 Reclaims Slender
Strip for Residential Luxury
By Tom Stabile
The nine-story luxury condominium rising at 25 W. Houston
St. in SoHo is the first new residential construction in the
neighborhood in more than two decades.
SoHo 25 was designed by Beyer Blinder Belle and is being
developed by Metropolitan Housing Partners, both of New York,
N.Y.
"To me, SoHo is so often about the reuse of buildings
to modern applications," said Jane Gladstein, a principal
of Metropolitan Housing. "We were able to create that
aesthetic from scratch."
But making SoHo 25's 32 loft residences fit into the neighborhood
wasn't easy and included such problems as tricky permitting
approvals and unexpected foundation obstacles. A narrow site
- at some points no wider than 40 ft. - and a jigsaw puzzle
for a façade added to the complexity of the $35 million
project. Construction began on the 60,000 sq.-ft. building
in December 2002 and is slated to finish in April.
Designers had to work with an odd-shaped plot in a landmark
district, said Frederick Bland, a partner at Beyer Blinder
Belle. The parcel, along the full block between Mercer and
Greene Streets, got its slim form in the 1950s, when the city
widened Houston Street.
The strip was a parking lot when the original owner, Hank
Sopher, decided to develop it in the mid-1990s. Bland said
earning the approval of the city's Landmarks Preservation
Commission required sensitivity to the heights of neighboring
buildings, which have a higher skyline to the east along Mercer.
The developers decided to build nine floors on the Mercer
side, but only seven on Greene Street to the west -- transitioning
the buildings to give the aura of two independent structures
joined at midblock.
Another attempt to fit in came through the firm's choice
of a brick and granite face with oversized windows, which
subtly pay homage to traditional SoHo.
"The overall materials were in context, but the arrangement
of those materials was much more contemporary and creative,"
Bland added. "The way we used the brick, the angles on
the bays and other elements suggests it wasn't built in 1890."
Other touches evoke classic SoHo, such as crafting the penthouse
façade from a metal material to suggest a later addition
and adding an exposed rooftop water tower.
Bland said the project stalled at the zoning stage for several
years after neighbors sued to prevent its construction, primarily
complaining about lost sightlines. During the litigation,
the original developer sold the project to Metropolitan Housing,
which develops residential properties along the East Coast.
Bland said forging a positive design relationship with the
landmarks commission, which unanimously approved the project,
helped the project eventually move forward.
Joseph Sellers, project manager for Gotham Construction Co.,
the construction manager, said obstacles arose once construction
began last winter.
The project team, which included H. Thomas O'Hara as project
architect and DeSimone Consulting Engineers as structural
engineer, first had to contend with a Metropolitan Transit
Authority tunnel beneath the project.
It next faced a long unexpected delay upon finding high-tension
power lines for Con Edison that required extensive shoring
and a significant change from the original foundation plans.
The tight site size also affected the location of the crane,
which Sellers said eventually went on a lane of Houston closer
to Mercer.
After sorting through the foundation setbacks, work on pouring
the reinforced concrete superstructure began in June and proceeded
quickly to topping out in late August. The crane soon shifted
to the erection of façade components, which started
with the precast concrete panels with brickface that were
installed over the structural columns.
Sellers said setting the panels, some weighing up to 20 tons
and covering two floors, was tough because they had to fit
with exacting tolerances beside the metal panel spandrel covers
fitting over the HVAC units and separate window panels.
"We had to be right on the money," he added. "And
we had to have close coordination. All three panels were made
in different places."
The team also had to develop a careful caulking material
to seal the three kinds of panels to the slab and each other.
Work on the interiors, designed by Cetra/Ruddy Architects
of New York, N.Y., will continue through the spring when workers
put finishing touches on the lofts, which range from 832 sq.
ft. to 1,560 sq. ft.
Each will have 10-ft. ceilings, maple strip flooring and
individual washer and drier units. Some of the units have
terraces on structural setbacks. All SoHo 25 occupants will
share a 3,000-sq.-ft. landscaped roof.
Other high-end finishes include glass vestibule marked by
a sandblasted geometric pattern. Tile patterns within the
units are nonrepetitive, Sellers said. "There are glass
tiles and ceramic tiles that are not in a straight run around
a room," he added. "The materials are fancier, too."
Gladstein said it's all in keeping with high expectations
for the project.
"SoHo is a very design-forward environment, so it's
important that we treat the product with the appropriate respect,"
she added.
|
print this page
e-mail this page
