This 7-story residential condop building was completed in 2010 at the east end of the "Close" at the General Theological Seminary that occupies the block bounded by Ninth and Tenth avenues and 20th and 21st streets and is one of most important landmarks in Chelsea. The "Close" is the large, center lawn at the complex.

The building, which is located at 177 Ninth Avenue, was built by the Brodsky Organization and designed by Polshek Partnership Architects.

It contains 53 apartments.

Bottom line

The charm of a collegiate compound centered around the seminary s park-like "close" and surrounded by two great townhouse streets in the heart of Chelsea, convenient to many restaurants, art galleries and the Chelsea Piers and public transportation, is an idyllic rarity in Manhattan.

Description

The red-brick facades of this building closely match those of the seminary's other buildings while its design has a more modern syncopation.

Amenities

The Close's expansive lawns and mature trees provide a delightful escape from Chelsea's vibrant mix of urban delights that include not only art galleries and restaurants but also the nearby High Line elevated park, interesting new architecture, the Chelsea Piers, and the wonderful Chelsea Market.

Chelsea Enclave has a 24-hour concierge, a fitness center, private storage, a bicycle room, a live-in superintendent and a garage.

It also has a private roof lounge with a children's play space, a sundeck with a built-in grill

In addition, a tennis court and day care center operated by the seminary are available.

Apartments

The building has many different apartment layouts.

Residence A on the second floor has an entrance foyer that is about 10 feet square that leads to an L-shaped living room that is 31 feet 4 feet long and a kitchen with a 9-by-13-foot "breakfast room." The apartment also has a small terrace and 4 bedrooms, one of which has a protruding corner window.

Penthouse 2 on the 7th floor has a entrance foyer that is 7-feet-9-inches by 10-feet-7-inches that leads directly to a 10-foot-6-inch-by-10-foot-5-inch bedroom and to a 23-foot-6-inch by 24-inch-10-inch living room that opens onto a 14-by-10-foot study. A private elevator goes from the apartment to a 570-foot private roof terrace. A second foyer, 7-feet-5-inches by 10-feet-10-inches, leads from the living room to three other bedrooms. The living room and the bedrooms all overlook the "Close."

Penthouse A on floors 6 and 7 has an entrance and long corridor leading to a 16-foot-5-inch by 26-foot living room leading to a 15-foot-5-inch by 11-foot-10-inch dining room on the lower floor that has a 2,008 square foot, wrap-around terrace. A staircase leads to the top floor that has two bedrooms and one sitting room and a 632-square-foot terrace.

The four-bedroom Penthouse C at the building's southwest corner has a 893-square-foot terrace and a 28-foot-6-inch by 13-foot-6-inch living room.

A two-bedroom Residence D on the 5th floor has an entrance gallery that is 7-feet-by-12-feet-8-inches leading into a 28-foot-6-inch by 15-foot living room.

History

This handsome, red-brick building replaced Sherrill Hall, a five-story building that was designed in 1960 by O'Connor & Kilham and bore little relationship to the seminary's complex of Gothic Revival brownstone structures that are bordered by two of Chelsea's loveliest townhouse blocks.

The seminary, which had significant financial problems, made a presentation to Community Board 4 November 21, 2005 of its plans to replace Sherrill Hall with a 17-story, mixed-use tower that would contain about 50,000 square feet for the seminary's library and offices and about 135,000 square feet for the condominium apartments.

The seminary, which has a daycare center, a homeless shelter and Alcoholic Anonymous meetings on its campus, planned to have a double-height-lobby on Ninth Avenue in the new building to permit views through the building to its "close." The proposed new building would have about 80 apartments, a garage for about 130 cars and would have been the same height as a 1928 apartment tower just across Ninth Avenue and a bit higher than the seminary's church tower in the center of the block.

The Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing, dean and president of the seminary, told the community board that the new building would "replace a shabby and forbidding structure with something far more attractive and welcoming," adding that it would have an improved child-car center and "a spacious room that will be available for exhibits or meetings by community groups and organizations."

The proposed building would only use about 185,000 of the seminary's available 240,000 square feet of unused "air rights" on its site.

The plan, however, met with great resistance and the seminary proceeded to revise its plans and lowered the tower from 17 to 15 stories. That was not enough to please the community activists who claimed it violated the area's new zoning limitations on building heights and they insisted that the building be no taller than 75 feet. The rezoning also deprived the seminary of the option of selling its unused air rights for the development of affordable housing nearby.

The seminary revised its plans again and proposed a 7-story building but the community felt it was too "glassy." Another redesign and finally in September 2007 the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the plans, that now were not big enough to meet the seminary's financial crisis.

The building also contains some offices and a library for the seminary on its ground floor.

In early 2011, the seminary entered another deal with the Brodsky Organization in which the developer will pay it $47.5 million for three townhouses and a plot of land. The townhouses had been divided into two apartments each and the Brodsky Organization is converting them to single units. It is also acquiring the 25,000-square-foot "West" building and the adjacent tennis court and will create about 30 condominium apartments in the existing building and a new structure on the tennis court site. In addition, the Brodsky Organization is converting "a building at 422 West 20th Street now used for student housing into between 40 and 45 condo units," according to a February 9, 2011 article in The Wall Street Journal by Joseph Avila.