Away from the subway and close to the morgue, Lower Manhattan's Far East Side is home to a treasure trove of overlooked gems and under-the-radar blocks that might even leave the most jaded Knickerbocker scratching their head. On East 18th Street, just west of First Avenue, three landmarked Italianate-style houses stand as some of the neighborhood's oldest survivors. Built in 1853 by descendants of Peter Stuyvesant—the one-legged autocrat who once ruled over his vast Great Bouwerie farm—these brick-faced homes offer a dash of New Orleans charm with their low profiles, deep front yards, and elegant ironwork gracing shallow porches.
These landmarked 1850s rowhouses at 326-330 East 18th Street were built by descendents of Peter Stuyvesant and are among the oldest in the area
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Countering this antebellum charm, across idyllic First Avenue, is the formidable 110-building Stuyvesant Tower-Peter Cooper Village, sporting its signature aesthetic of mid-20th-century monotony. Despite the visual severity, its altruistic values endure. Conceived as a community for returning veterans of World War II, the 11,250-unit complex remains a national park to the threatened species, the middle-class New Yorker. Over the decades, the complex has birthed notable residents like Pulitzer Prize-winner Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes), New York Times opinion columnist David Brooks, former councilman and 'City of Yes' captain Dan Garodnick, and actor Paul Reiser.
Evidently, Manhattan has been ignoring NIMBYs for centuries.
In this puzzling decade of the 21st century, a new upscale condo building is trying to navigate the contradictory realities of New York life—realities fewer of us can afford to be confused by. Even the hospitals of "Bed Pan Alley" aren’t immune, as Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center plans to shutter its Gramercy campus. While local conspiracy theorists suspect this has been a real estate land grab from the start, we're pretty sure they're onto something.
As CityRealty is a real estate company, we'll finally get to the point. A small cluster of walk-up buildings at 350 East 18th Street and the southwest corner of First, which most recently held Beth Israel's Karpas Health Information Center has been cleared to make way for a ten-story condominium building with 50 units. The four-building site was sold to Minrav Development in early 2020, who made quick work reducing them to rubble.
The site of 350 East 18th Street in April 2024
305 First Avenue / 350 East 18th Street (Minrav/SLCE Architects)
Permits were filed and approved in 2021 to build a slick new condo building designed by SLCE Architects. Initial renderings depicted a contemporary structure channeling the timeless character of an office park. Newly published renderings by ARC Architecture + Design Studio convey a design that is as beautifully confused as the city itself: A concoction of Art Deco, Moderne, and Japanese traditional design (Shoin-zukuri /Shinto chic), neatly packaged into an arbitrary zoning envelope.
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Many homes will have private outdoor space and corner homes will have curved exposures, giving the building a faint resemblance to The Normandy, a streamlined Emery Roth design on the Upper West Side. A recent visit in mid-November showed that construction has progressed at lightning speed—since breaking ground in the spring, the building has already topped out. We'll have to wait a few more months to see if the final design lives up to the renderings, but we’re glad the architects showed some creativity. Here’s hoping the bean counters and engineers don’t skimp on the interior details!
The high-end condo market of Gramercy has been booming as of late as a flurry of contracts has been signed at 200E20th several blocks west, and nearby 250 East 21st Street quickly selling out of sponsor units. In addition to easy access to medical facilities, the area offers attractions like Stuyvesant Square Park, restaurants and bars in the East Village, and the charming fountain and park at the heart of Stuyvesant Town. The nearby East River waterfront is undergoing coastal resiliency improvements and will debut upgraded parkland in the near future. The First Avenue L train station is a short walk south, with several crosstown and uptown bus routes nearby, plus a new ferry landing at East 20th Street on the East River.
Nearby New Development Listings
250 East 21st Street, #10A
$5,995,000 (-4.8%)
Gramercy Park | Condominium | 3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths | 2,000 ft2
250 East 21st Street, #10A (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Coda Condominium, #5H (Compass)
Hendrix House, #9E (CORE Group Marketing LLC)
200E20th, #10B (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
The Tower at Gramercy Square, #17D
$11,170,000
Gramercy Park | Condominium | 3 Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths | 3,469 ft2
The Tower at Gramercy Square, #17D (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
Just complete the info below.
Or call us at (212) 755-5544
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
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