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From The Times

March 30, 2007

We’ll take Manhattan

The falling dollar makes a New York bolthole an attractive prospect, says Judith Heywood

THE American property market might be awash with worrying signs of slowdown but you would be hard-pressed to notice it in New York. The city is as busy as ever, with a cheerful industry that envelops all social groups, including the poor and ethnic minorities who have been worst affected in the sub-prime mortgage market implosion. Boldly designed developments are redefining New York’s most desirable neighbourhoods, with the median apartment price now at £395,000, up 7 per cent in a year. The weakness of the dollar is, according to S. Lawrence Davis, of the SDS Investments real estate fund, making the present market for overseas buyers “like going into Harrods and discovering everything is 50 per cent off”. Better still, the new stock is almost all condominiums, with none of the distaste of the traditional cooperative’s board for second-home or buy-to-let owners.

The gritty district of West Chelsea has been cleverly rezoned to encourage a regeneration that will allow contemporary art galleries, now resolutely priced out of SoHo, to thrive. And thrive they do: 260 art dealers are open for business, and their ever more confident shopfronts have created an open-air gallery, thronging with students, critics and buyers. Developers have swooped in, where city planning rules allow, and are not wasting the chance to develop new buildings on former industrial sites. Jean Nouvel has several apartment buildings in development, and Richard Meier and Frank Gehry have had commissions realised here.

One firm, Della Valle Bernheimer, is out to prove its credentials in delivering architecture as art. Its new development, 245 Tenth Avenue, angles out over a landmark new park, the High Line. Stainless steel panels in the building’s skin are each uniquely stamped with a light-reflective diamond pattern, and windows are scattered geometrically, giving each of the 19 units (priced from £888,000 for a one-bedroom, one-office apartment) its own arrangement. Inside, ebonised oak floors and exposed concrete ceilings create a gallery feeling, which provides an open invitation to owners to show off their art purchases.

The first stage of the High Line, an architect-designed elevated esplanade on a former freight railway, will from next year meander mid-block into the Meatpacking district, where öberclubs and boutiques jostle for space with the last food delivery firms. The campaign to save the High Line and its urban wilderness of self-seeded trees and grasses drew all eyes to West Chelsea.

Farther downtown, the financial district is proving another surprisingly vibrant residential area. The September 11 attacks, which forced corporations to relocate, sent rents plummeting. Daniel Libeskind’s Freedom Tower will rise in 2012 in a remade neighbourhood. The 26,000 residents, up from only 2,000 seven years ago, have found the area more habitable since the opening of a private school and news of the expected arrival of Whole Foods Market, Hermes and Tiffany’s, which has long been faithful to its landmark Fifth Avenue store.

André Balazs, the upmarket hotelier, is ready with the Wall Street dream that is William Beaver House. The 47-storey tower, occupying the corner of William and Beaver streets, is a lone new-build amid precious landmarks. With a yellow mosaic-style exterior, drive-in lobby and private cinema, it is proving popular with overseas buyers, especially those from Latin America, willing to pay £485,000 for an 812 sq ft, one-bedroom apartment in what one observer calls “a very funky aprãs-ski lodge”.

Just a few doors away, the Setai provides another vision of city life. Fresh from its successes in South Beach, Miami, the firm is bringing its ultra-indulgent spa formula to the city in the form of a private club and residence with 44,000 sq ft of amenities — including an 18,000 sq ft Eastern-inspired Setai brand spa. Residents — who must pay £469,000 for a one-bedroom unit — will have access to a butler service, two-storey library, restaurant with private dining rooms, wine gallery and sky lounge.

The desirability of such developments threatens even the ascendancy of the Upper East Side, with its luxury shopping and Central Park access. But even here times are changing. Miraval, a spa company of a different type, is extending its resort formula from the Arizona desert to a 41-storey former rental apartment building on 72nd Street. The Miraval Living complex boasts a 20,000 sq ft terraced private garden, one of the largest in Manhattan, an Olympic-size pool, and Miraval advisers who will direct residents through 100 of the resort’s most popular programmes, including Zen Boot-camp, Equine Experience and Board-breaking. Miraval Living, with its family-friendly apartments, from £793,000 for three bedrooms, is serious business: it is owned by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, and came here because so many of its worn-down, high-achieving visitors hailed from the old-money 10022 postcode.

For the first time foreign buyers can take their pick between a stake in Old New York, or one in New New York — without having to compromise on the luxury features that ensure a second home is a real holiday-maker. Contact Hamptons International, 020-7758 8447, www.hamptons-int.com

THE UBERCLUBS

New Yorkers are not afraid to work hard at living well. Show you know how to party at some of the city’s hippest nightclubs: PM, 50 Gansevoort St: A-listers line up to party in this massive lounge, which is designed to look like a tropical paradise. APT, 419 W 13th St: this club appears to be a nondescript apartment building, but inside the hottest DJs can be found performing to droves of clubgoers. Cain, 544 W 27th St: perfect for the entrancing rhythm of bongo drums and a bit of model-watching. Bungalow 8, 515 W 27th St: a stylish hotspot where celebrities let off steam. Pink Elephant, 527 W 27th St: this club is located inside the old Prop Room at CroBar. Clubgoers mix their own drinks. Club Aer, 409 W 13th St: ultra-modern place with design elements that threaten sensory overload. ANTHONY SERRANO

I am a successful stock broker in London and a few years back to decided to head across the pond to buy property. Of course I bought in Orlando, as it was the law for Brits to do so some 10 years ago. I have often thought about indulging the New York property market, That was until I went there. To me New York is just a newer version of London (although you wouldn't think it) on steroids. The city is grey, the people are rude and abrupt, and the weather is horrible. So, basically London. I knew I wanted to keep my money in Florida, where the weather is warm and the people are incredible. However, Miami is more for the younger person and Orlando is now over-run with Brits, it looks like Blackpool. But a few weeks back I came across a city in the NW of Florida called Pensacola. Sugar white beaches and emerald green oceans of the gulf coast are beautiful. I have invested in a property there, and I would advise anyone to do the same. There is a place called Perdido Cove, well worth a look.

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We’ll take Manhattan

The falling dollar makes a New York bolthole an attractive prospect, says Judith Heywood

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