By Holly Dutton
Battery Park’s luxury building, River & Warren, is making a splash in Lower Manhattan.
The 28-story tower located right off the Hudson River overlooking Nelson A. Rockefeller Park is a condo conversion from a rental building.
“It’s been completely renovated,” said Justin D’Adamo, a managing director at Corcoran Sunshine, which is in charge of sales and marketing at the 169-unit project. “That was important to us, to have a nice variety of residences. It’s not possible to have a bad view in the building.”
Architecture firm CetraRuddy designed the building, fresh off ultra-luxury condo building projects 1 Madison Park and Walker Tower.
“When we sat down to think about the design for the building, we took a step back to think about Battery Park and where it’s been in the past year,” said D’Adamo. Corcoran Sunshine also worked on luxury buildings 1 Rector Park and Riverhouse. “We felt the demographics had changed a bit in Battery Park,” he said.
“It used to be where buyers went value hunting, and now it’s a first choice neighborhood, and it’s like that for a reason. There’s an amazing amount of retail now.”
D’Adamo listed Brookfield Place, Shake Shack, and restaurateur Danny Meyer’s North End Grill as highlights of the new retail and restaurant scene.
Sales began in December and D’Adamo said that, so far, the building is doing “extremely well. Traffic was extremely high,” he said. “There are still residences available in the building that are on the value side.”
Prices range from $1.985 million to over $10 million. Amenities include a two-level fitness center with view of the Hudson River and Rockefeller Park, a children’s playroom, an outdoor terrace with custom landscaping including a central lawn and a sundeck promenade.
A full-service building, amenities also include 24-hour doorman, full-time concierge, a bike room, and additional private storage available for purchase.
Unit interiors feature oversized windows with stellar views, one of the distinctive features of the building, and wide plank oak flooring.
Kitchens will have a stainless steel range hood framed by an oak proscenium arch, and a custom oak and stainless steel island featuring a countertop crafted from Bleu de Savoie, a French stone with a grey-blue patina.
Other highlights of the units include floor-to-ceiling millwork cabinetry, white Italian Calacatta marble countertops and backsplashes, and Miele, Sub-Zero, and Bosch appliances, including a washer and dryer.
A limited collection of two-story four and five-bedroom homes are located on the 18th floor of the building, while the two penthouses on the top floor are each designed with more than 2,000 s/f of outdoor living space, as well as floor-to-ceiling corner windows.
“When we talked to CetraRuddy about design, we felt very comfortable with a higher level of luxury design that hadn’t been done before,” said D’Adamo.
John Tashjian is principal at Centurion Real Estate Partners, which developed River & Warren in a joint venture with Five Mile Capital, LLC. The firm was also the team behind luxury building Riverhouse, located next door.
“We had a familiarity of the neighborhood and who the buyer was from the Riverhouse project, which was completed in 2012,” said Tashjian. “I think we have a real appreciation for how Battery Park City has changed, who the buyer is down there, the lifestyle, the amenities, and the new opportunities coming forward at this time.”
Centurion first became involved with the project in the summer of 2013, when the building at 212 Warren Street came up for sale. The decision to purchase came naturally, with the team already familiar with the area and knowledgeable about the market.
“Our thesis was, Battery Park City is changing again,” he said. “With the opening of the Freedom Tower, Conde Nast coming in, with Brookfield Place, and all the underground retail that Westfield was doing. Battery Park City was going to be another shopping destination within Manhattan and is trending luxury because of all the brands coming down retail-wise. We felt that Battery Park City could sustain a high-end luxury building that was commensurate with the retail coming online.”
The plan was to take the layout of the original rental building of 324 units and convert it to 169.
“We wanted to provide buyers with what we thought was missing from the market, which was two, three and four-bedroom units with a lot of light and more open floor plans,” said Tashjian.
Young professionals and families, as well as empty-nesters focused on amenities are all drawn to the area, he said.
“I’d love to continue to evolve the product in Battery Park City, I think it’s one of Manhattan’s great neighborhoods,” said Tashjian. “And I think the prospects for continued evolution there is very strong.”
