20149-2063 FDB / 300 West 112th Street via Crown Architecture
Height limits often present a unique challenge to New York developers who've amassed more development rights than they can fit in under a lot's prescribed zoning envelope. As we covered in our "Understanding the Power of Air Rights" story, without the ability to go up, developers must somehow spread the unused floor area horizontally. Most times, hemmed-in sites and less-than-enthusiastic neighbors prevent developers from fully utilizing these surplus air rights. In unique situations, deep-pocketed developers have embarked on pricey agreements with adjacent lot owners who will then allow the new building/building addition to cantilever over their property, a la 160 East 22nd Street, Linden 78, and the Brompton.
Among the many districts of the city with height restrictions is the burgeoning stretch of Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem which limits new construction to 120 feet high to the top of the highest floor. Following a Blomberg-era upzoning that enforced the height cap, a bevy of new residential developments were erected that include SoHa 118, the Parc Standard, and 2280 FDB — all falling at or under the 120-foot limit.
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The Gateway Condominium at 2098 FDB most recent closings average just under $1,489 a foot (Halstead Property)
Often, without the ability to go up, developers assemble larger development sites to spread their building potential outward, leading to the loss of characterful low-rises and small businesses. One exceptional precedent took place at The Gateway Condominium at 2098 FDB, where developer Steve Gaetano purchased four adjacent building shells in 2005, salvaged their historic facades, and built a 78-unit, 11-floor condominium within and above them.
Two blocks south, with the same idea in mind, Madison Realty Capital is proposing to combine eight contiguous buildings from 2049-2063 Frederick Douglass Blvd. between West 111th and West 112th Streets. Crown Architecture is leading the design and their page explains that the project is one of the most complex they've ever undertaken. They note the three distinct challenges were: "How to build a new building on top of existing buildings to remain and integrate the structural and infrastructure systems, how to phase the work while keeping the existing portions of the building operation and occupied, and how to come up with a design that had an independent look but still complemented the lower buildings."
(Crown Architecture)
As expensive and challenging this seems, the endeavor may prove worthwhile given the rising sale prices in southwest Harlem. Catty-corner to the blockfront site is Circa Central Park which has the highest sales average of any condo building uptown — coming in at an average of more than $2,000 a foot for its 10 most recent sales. Furthermore, its 11th-floor penthouse netted the most expensive private condo sale in the neighborhood, garnering $9,453,809 ($2,532 per ft²) for the five-bedroom top-floor spread. If Madison Realty's proposal comes to fruition, top-floor apartments will capture views of Morningside Park and partial views of Central Park. The local subway line serving the B and C lines is also one block away.
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