How do you take an industrial building with few windows and turn it into a luxury apartment that can command high prices? All over America, it is being done, with great success. Especially with the “back to the city” and historic preservation movements since the 1970s onward, repurposing old buildings is seen as a catalyst for improving neglected neighborhoods. Manhattan’s west side character owes much to this process of restoring old buildings for new uses. (I live in one of those converted buildings too.)
What are the typical characteristics of early twentieth century industrial construction? Such materials shifted from the older wood plank and beams between solid brick walls, to larger layouts of posts and beams with concrete slabs. Sometimes the floors are poured over vaulted arches for extra strength. The main structure of these buildings is in a skeleton of posts and beams, which are often steel or concrete, or both. Between the posts, and often resting on the concrete slabs, usually are walls (called non-structural, since they don’t hold up the building) of one or more layers of masonry.
Due to zoning regulations for separation or the obnoxious nature of the activities, industrial buildings were usually in rough areas, far from desirable residential areas. As the city and industry change, the neighborhoods have an opportunity for a new life.
Let’s look at one recent example of this transformation to see how it can be done.
The Walker Tower, now named after one of its architects, Ralph Walker, is located off Seventh Avenue between West 17th and 18th Streets. It was built for the New York Telephone Company in 1929 and housed Verizon Telephone’s corporate headquarters for decades. The building’s Art Deco exterior displays its folded, curtain-like brick façade, and detailed ornamentation of nickel and brass sunbursts and electrical motifs. Much of the exterior had few windows, since the function was for telephone call center equipment and switching gear.
Ralph Thomas Walker’s creative juices were at their peak in the 1920s and 30s, where, as a principal architect at Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, he contributed to Manhattan’s skyline with the Barclay-Vesey Telephone Building at 140 West Street (1926) and the Irving Trust Building at 1 Wall Street (1931) and many of America’s greatest Depression-era skyscrapers. Walker’s architectural legacy extended beyond New York and its skyscrapers with his work for the Chicago World’s Fair (1933) and another fair on his home turf in 1939. By the late 1940s, he was elected as head of the American Institute of Architects New York and in 1957, he received the national organization’s highest honor, the Centennial Medal of Honor (The Times called him “Architect of the Century”). Even the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright said that Walker was the only other (besides Wright) “honest” architect living. Tragically in 1973, the troubled architect ended his life with a silver bullet he forged himself.
In 2007, the developers Michael Stern of JDS Development and Elliott Joseph of Property Markets Group bought the building for approximately $28 million. With the help of local architecture firm Cetra/Ruddy, they are gutting the interior space and refiguring the layouts of the upper floors to accommodate 48 new condos, at a cost of approximately $200 million. Walker Tower rises high above its surroundings and features stunning views, soaring ceilings, and large tilt-and-turn windows. Verizon will maintain its presence on floors one through seven; new condos will occupy all the floors above.
Walker Tower’s walls rival those of a medieval fortress in strength, where layers of rich caramel-toned bricks cover a layer of hollow terracotta block for thermal and acoustic protection. The interiors are finished with a level 5 (top quality) finish drywall. These compound walls, 18 inches thick on average, measure up to 2 ft. thick in some locations.
However, a high-end residence demands lots of windows in just the right places, so somehow more windows would need to be added. The easier way was to build out certain areas with new exterior window walls, which are shown on the upper setbacks of the tower. One neighbor already reported that the built-out walls have squared up the top of the building enough to block his view of the Empire State Building.
The harder way is to create new openings in the existing masonry walls and to blend the new openings with the architectural character. This was done on all sides that needed the extra openings.
Yet how do you cut a hole in a masonry wall without ruining it? Very carefully. The wall must be braced before cutting and a new lintel or header is inserted at the top of the new opening; once the header is set, the new opening can be cut out and cleared. The sides are prepared for a new window by inserting framing members around the edges. The new window unit is then set in the opening and fastened into the framing. Final trimming on the interior and sealing on the exterior finishes the job. Walker Tower features some of the largest tilt-and-turn windows made, with some as large as 9½ ft. tall by 5 ft. wide.
So is all that work of transformation worth it? The market will tell. So far, it is saying yes. Celebrities such as Cameron Diaz, Blake Lively, Ryan Seacrest, and Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio are looking at the Walker Tower. Brokers said that at least one Hollywood star put down a deposit and someone else bought two combined penthouses for approximately $34 million, one of downtown’s largest contracts of 2012. More than 50% of the units are said to be under contract. Prices are higher than nearby condos, with upper floor three-bedrooms running as high as $14 million.
Apartment 11A has 3,022 sq. ft. and is offered for $9.25 million or $3,060/sq. ft. Apartment 19B has 2,691 sq. ft. and is offered for $12.5 million or $4,645/sq. ft..
The comprehensive amenities package includes a 24-hour doorman, concierge, library lounge with pantry and bar, children’s playroom, fitness center with yoga room, sauna, and landscaped common roof deck with dining area, sun lawn, observation area, and covered cabana room. Additionally, each residence includes a built-in zoned humidification system, an ultra-quiet central air conditioning and ventilation system and a vented kitchen and dryer exhaust.
Critics may say that this location is too rough or low-key for such high end prices. Is it so different than the Superior Ink condo in the Meatpacking district or the new condos on the Bowery that are commanding top-end prices for their apartments? Perhaps the rough edges are just what sophisticated buyers are looking for?
In the meantime, the fabric of the old buildings in place will continue to add value and character to their neighborhoods.
