Two new residential buildings to rise on West Chelsea sites formerly owned by Six Sigma
In 2014, near the peak of Manhattan's boisterous condo market which defined the middle of the decade, developer Six Sigma picked up a five-floor commercial warehouse for $21 million and hatched plans to add five new floors to the structure and introduce six swimming pool-infused condos to West Chelsea. Named Pool House, the High-Line-area venture at 435 West 19th Street was designed by the I.M. Pei-founded Pei Partnership Architects and would present each unit with a pool, private parking space, sunroom, and a wood-burning fireplace.
Prior design of the Pool House by Pei Partnership
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However, for several years since the sale, the warehouse building sat gutted and enveloped in construction netting with little visual progress being made. This past April, The Commercial Observer
reported Six Sigma filed for bankruptcy on the project a second time, and redevelopment of the site will start from scratch under a new sponsor. The Observer noted that the developers were more than $40 million in debt after sinking funds towards transforming the former sound-stage manufacturer headquarters into a high-end condo.
445 West 19th Street as of early December 2019 (CityRealty)
Posting at 445 West 19th Street's construction fence
Recently, a visit to the block shows construction workers on-site and a new rendering posted depicting a new and very plain design. Pool House's former lender, Churchill Real Estate Holdings, is now listed on permits and per the Observer ousted Six Sigma as the developer earlier this year.
Revised building permits hint of a less lavish development with the planned unit count growing from six to 19. Three floors will be added to the warehouse structure bringing it to eight and there will be between two to four apartments per floor on lower levels and floor-through penthouses above. Rand Engineering and Architecture
are listed as the architects of record.
New rendering posted on construction fect of 519 West 29th Street (CityRealty)
Prior renderings of 519 West 29th Street
Churchill Real Estate Holdings also acquired ownership of another Six Sigma site nearby at 519 West 29th Street where 60 apartments are planned. The preexisting warehouse building was demolished earlier this year but construction has yet to begin. Rand Engineering and Architecture is also listed as designers of record for this venture.
ABI Chelsea, an ultra-high-end, 10-unit condo down the block from 435 West 29th Street, has just launched sales with units starting at $15 million dollars
and averaging more than $6,000 a foot. According to our data index
tracking sales of new condo developments on and near the High Line, average prices have shown some weakness over the several years, selling substantially lower than in peak years in 2015-2016. Currently, the average closing price of a new development in West Chelsea comes in at $1,787 per square foot. Our sales listings
show there are 74 condos listed in the area at a median price of $4,122,500 or $2,544 per square foot.
(CityRealty)
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