Looking Successful Is About Feeling Successful

If Manhattan’s vacancy rate is really under one percent, then why are developers struggling to outdo each other in terms of amenities? Apparently it’s about “feeling successful”:

A golf simulator that lets residents imagine they’re playing the 18th hole at St. Andrews in Scotland.

A penthouse party room with sweeping city views where residents can entertain, say, 50 of their closest friends.

Swimming pools, yoga studios and massage rooms that would satisfy even the most driven New Yorkers.

And finally, the one thing that should make any apartment dweller’s heart skip a beat: a washer and dryer, even in a 450-square-foot studio.

These are the kinds of amenities that developers are using to redefine the term “luxury rental” in Manhattan, and, perhaps more to the point, to justify a whole new level of prices for people who want the feel of a high-end condominium but don’t want to buy.

With rental vacancies hovering at less than 1 percent, developers are confident that the rental market is strong enough to absorb thousands of new apartments, even if they come with rents that are two to three times current averages. That means studios that rent for as much as $3,500 a month, one-bedrooms for $6,000, and two-bedrooms for $11,000. These are, incidentally, the kind of prices that owners of high-end condos might get if they rented out their apartments, brokers say.

In recent years, developers have been focused more on condo development than on rental construction, but at least nine rental buildings have opened within the last year, and at least a dozen more are scheduled to open in the next two years. Most of these buildings are high-rises, which means that thousands of new apartments will become available in the next 18 months.

“Builders are realizing that they can build rentals with high amenities and real wow factor because people are willing to pay for it,” said Gary Malin, the chief operating officer of Citi Habitats. In many ways, the market for new rental buildings is merely following the lead set by the condominium market in the last five years, when developers raced to find the most talked-about new amenity.

The developers of these new rental buildings are also giving them a Club Med vibe. Some even have created the land-based equivalent of a cruise director — someone to organize Halloween parties, a softball team and the occasional ski trip or scuba diving lesson. All with particular renters in mind, of course.

“These are people who know how they want to feel when they walk into their lobby and their home,” said Cliff Finn, the managing director of new development marketing at Citi Habitats. “It’s about feeling successful.”

Oh yeah — I remember the golf simulator.

Man Bites Dog, Then Purchases Real Estate Using His Own Savings

Only in New York is it somehow unusual and newsworthy that someone squirrels away his or her modest income in order to buy a modest apartment:

When Janey Lee and Pablo Agüero were struggling freelance Web designers, buying an apartment in Manhattan seemed like a dream, one clouded by credit-card debt, student loans that had to be repaid and the bills for their wedding.

But now, five years later, they are about to move into a $445,000 two-bedroom condo in Hamilton Heights, in Upper Manhattan, with their 5-month-old daughter, Matilda. Their combined salaries of just over $100,000 qualified them for a mortgage, but it took a lot more for them to come up with the down payment.

In a city synonymous with luxury and spending, Ms. Lee, 30, and Mr. Agüero, 35, decided to do without.

They gave up smoking to cut costs, they stopped meeting friends after work for beers, they didn’t buy new clothes, and they stashed away tax refunds and as much of their earnings as possible. Whenever they wanted to buy drinks, gadgets or cookware, they asked each other: “Do I want an iPod or a house? Do I want a latte or a house?”

“It would be absurd for me to buy things when I wanted a place rather than a frying pan,” Ms. Lee said as she fed Matilda a post-nap bottle.

More impressive, perhaps, than their willpower was that they were able to save $90,000.

Still, Ms. Lee and Mr. Agüero are part of the shrinking pool of New Yorkers who have been able to buy apartments for less than $450,000, and the even smaller group who have done so without help from their parents or a Wall Street bonus.

“Most people that I’m working with are getting some kind of familial assistance,” said Tracie Hamersley, the Citi Habitats broker who helped Ms. Lee and Mr. Agüero find their apartment. “They were unusual in that they were doing this on their own.”

. . . Each Soul Is Part And Parcel Of The Quality Of Godhead, Emphasis On Parcel

How contentious is Manhattan real estate? Just look what it does to even Hare Krishnas:

It was supposed to be a spiritual place free from anxiety, but the Hare Krishnas’ East Village Sanctuary has become the target of an ugly legal battle between two groups of devotees.

Last month, one group of Hare Krishnas who claim they make up the legal board of directors in charge of the building served eviction notices to other Hare Krishnas who say their building has been “hijacked” by outsiders who never worked for the place or belonged to their organization.

“It’s like you invite guests into your home and they start taking over your kitchen and locking you out of your bedroom,” said Sachit Hariyogam, 41, who faces eviction along with his two brothers, two cousins and his sister-in-law.

A splinter sect of the Hare Krishnas called the Interfaith League of Devotees founded the Sanctuary in 1998. Led by their guru Kirtanananda Swami, Interfaith devotees raised funds to purchase a six-floor warehouse building at 25 First Ave. for $500,000 and turn it into a temple and living space with a vegetarian restaurant on the ground floor.

Hariyogam and his family have been Interfaith members for most of their lives. They say they joined an Interfaith Hare Krishna temple in Malaysia as teenagers, and after raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to help establish Sanctuary, they were invited to America to work in the Sanctuary restaurant in exchange for free room and board and $50 per week.

Four out of the five alleged Interfaith board of directors, in contrast, became involved with Sanctuary only about two years ago. They belong to another Hare Krishna sect, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON.

ISKCON excommunicated Kirtan­an­anda Swami in 1986 after the guru was charged with child molestation, conspiracy to murder and racketeering. But after serving eight years in federal prison for racketeering, the guru let bygones be bygones and invited ISKCON devotees into his building as paying guests.

. . .

Now the so-called “Interfaith League of Devotees Landlord” has served a 30-day notice demanding that Hariyogam and his family move out by July 31. And Interfaith’s lawyers filed a complaint in State Supreme Court in early June charging that commercial and residential leases signed by Hariyogam’s cousin, Nark Palliandy, are not valid.

The Slippery Park Slope

That incredible Sunset Park-eating neighborhood is on the march:

When asked to identify the southern boundary of Park Slope, brokers frown or smile, depending on how long they’ve been in the business. Roughly speaking, the newer the agent the broader her Slope.

“In order to attract buyers, people describe neighborhoods as Park Slope that aren’t Park Slope,” an agent told me before he noticed his boss glowering at him. Borders are a touchy subject, even here.

Everyone agrees that the Slope is bounded by Flatbush Avenue to the north and by Prospect Park West to the east. That’s just simple geography. And clearly the “prime Slope blocks” are demarcated by the 34-year-old lines marking the Park Slope Historic District, which runs roughly between Seventh Avenue and the park from St. Johns Place to Third Street and between Eighth Avenue and the park from Fourth to 14th Street.

Ah, but what of the neighborhood’s western and southern frontiers? Many say the the western border is Fourth Avenue, but the opinion is hardly unanimous. Lee Solomon of Brown Harris Stevens sets it instead at Third Avenue (well, of course she does!), but Janice Cimberg, whose desk is beside Lee’s, sniffed.

“That’s Gowanus,” she said.

Oh, yeah, retorted Lee: “We’ll see when Whole Foods gets here if they call it Whole Foods Gowanus or Whole Foods Park Slope.” Touche!

. . .

But the most-heated disagreements are about the southern border. Some say it runs parallel to the southern edge of Prospect Park, at 15th Street; others, at Prospect Avenue, beside the Prospect Expressway; still others, at 24th Street, at the southwestern corner of Green-Wood Cemetery.

“The Prospect Expressway to 24th Street, that’s the contested area,” said Ilene Levenson of Brooklyn Properties. “That area isn’t Sunset Park. Some call it the ‘South South Slope.’ Some call it ‘Green-Wood Heights.'”

South South Slope may be unwieldy, but it’s also quasi-official: in its 2005 rezoning plan, the Department of Planning referred to the area “bounded by 15th Street on the north, Fourth Avenue on the west, Prospect Park West on the east, and 24th Street and Green-Wood Cemetery on the south” as South Park Slope.

“Green-Wood Heights” hasn’t really caught on. Agents use it tentatively, maybe because it sounds like a synonym for death . . .

The (Organic) Carrot And Stick

Maybe Bruce Ratner and Joe Sitt should have dangled the possibility of a Trader Joe’s to naysayers:

Besides a Trader Joe’s, Downtown Brooklyn may be getting something else: A six-story, combination residential and retail development that would exceed the height restrictions currently in place.

It was announced last week that the popular supermarket chain will be opening its first Brooklyn-based store at 130 Court Street, at the former Independence Savings Bank headquarters building constructed in 1922.

For months, however, the project has been a source of contention between residents and the developer, Two Trees Management, which wants to build a 60-foot high structure in the parking lot next door.

Roughly two weeks ago, representatives of both sides appeared at Borough Hall for a special hearing hosted by Borough President Marty Markowitz, during which time Two Trees requested a special permit to build their tower. Although Markowitz has not yet issued a recommendation, he has been straightforward in his support for Trader Joe’s, which specializes in fine imported and domestic foods.

“We’re thrilled this acclaimed store is setting up shop on Atlantic Avenue and Court Street,” he said during a press conference last Thursday. “Trader Joe’s will bring more customers to Downtown Brooklyn, and residents will have even more choices when it comes to shopping for fresh produce, prepared foods, and groceries.”

Yet some of those same neighbors charged Two Trees’ plan to build in the adjacent lot would negatively impact their quality of life, even as Trader Joe’s improves it.

Franklin Stone, vice president of the Cobble Hill Association, said her organization supports having a Trader Joe’s, and wanted 130 Court Street to remain commercial property all along.

“What we opposed was the insertion of floors that would affect how the building looks on the outside,” she said. “We thought that was going to mar this magnificent building.”

However, the Cobble Hill Association remains steadfastly opposed to the project next door, on the grounds it would represent the first building in the neighborhood taller than 50 feet, and would alter what Stone referred to as, “the 19th-century scale and feeling of the Cobble Hill Historic District.”

“We’re not against development,” she later told the Star. “We just want development that lives within the rules. We are pro-development that is in harmony with the surrounding district.”