Elegran Edge Archives for February 2012

In the past couple of years, the international powerhouses in Manhattan luxury real estate have been clear: China, Russia and Brazil. These are the countries that have been steadily buying up many of the high-end condos in Manhattan and names that bring a smile to brokers’ face. Unbeknown to many however, there is a dark horse among the trio of super buyers that is quietly pulling ahead in the race.

While New York City’s wealthiest residents now find themselves in townhouses, or on top of one another in luxury condominiums, living in extravagant Manhattan mansions was a highly regarded way for people to display their wealth. The large homes began to pop up across the city around the start of the 20^th century, or the Gilded Age, a time in which palatial-sized and often gaudy residences were commonplace.

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that, "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." There’s nothing else in the world like it, especially because of an unusual feature: its twin peaks are separated by the long stretch of low-rise buildings between Downtown and Midtown Manhattan. Conventional wisdom held that Manhattan’s skyscrapers were clustered in two distinct areas because the bedrock between Downtown and Midtown was too far down below the surface, making it difficult to build on. But that myth has officially been debunked.

The New York Building Congress released information on Monday showing that while commercial construction in Manhattan in 2011 had dropped from the previous year, construction on apartments in Manhattan had increased by 24%. Overall, contractors shelled out $2.9 billion for residential projects, including the storied Gotham West and Walker Tower renovations. Furthermore, the property research company Property Shark released a report this week showing that 4,092 building permits were issued in 2011, a considerable drop from the 4,810 issued in 2010, but that demolition permits increased, from 1,036 in 2010 to 1,117.