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The beige-brick, 8-story residential condominium at 159 West 24th Street, has 24 apartments, eight of which will have internal parking spaces when construction wraps next month, according to an article in Sunday edition of The New York Times by C. J. Hughes.

"Buyers of the two penthouses will each be guaranteed a parking spot," the article said, "but the remaining six will be sold for about $200,000 apiece, said Eamon Roche, a principal of Roundtable Builders, the contractor and a partner on the project. Mr. Roche has teamed with Millhouse Properties, a New York developer that specializes in distressed properties. In 2008 the same developers began a similar sales effort, and contracts went out for 10 of the units, Mr. Gray said. But those sales came soon after Lehman Brothers's collapse, and buyers found it nearly impossible to line up financing. He said that led the developers to default on construction loans, which in turn set off a foreclosure process."

"Prices will be about $1,200 a square foot," the article continued, "though the state attorney general's office has yet to approve the condominium offering plan, said Eric Gray, Millhouse's managing partner. At that price the smallest studio, with 560 square feet, will be listed at $672,000; the largest two-bedroom, with 1,600 square feet, at $1.9 million. A two-bedroom duplex penthouse with two levels of terraces - the largest unit - will be about $4.3 million, he said."

From 1917 to 2007, the article said that the 1901 building was a parking garage with nearly 300 spaces - and as such had a curb cut, which are generally difficult to obtain permits for. Before that, it added, it served as a stable, and horses were transported from floor to floor by elevator.

Intentionally or not, the article noted that "24th Street has become a sort of locus for unusual parking arrangements."

"At No. 148, near Lexington Avenue, a condo called One48 is being co-developed by the American Development Group and Langsam Property Services. Sales start this week for the 15-story, 55-unit condo. It is adjacent to a 64-space garage that the developers have built fully automated - which means machines essentially lift vehicles and ease them into berths. The garage, which opened in December, is public, but residents have the option of leasing spaces for about $375 a month, said Perry Finkelman, the chief executive of American Development. Studios at the condo start at $399,000," the article said.

"And at 200 Eleventh Avenue," the article added, "a corner condominium at West 24th, almost every one of the 16 units comes with a parking spot next to the living room."

So far 15 units have sold at $3 million to $17 million, the article said, adding that Glauco Lolli-Ghetti, a principal of Urban Muse, which developed 200 Eleventh Avenue with Young Wood & Associates. said he thought "it's proof that this is a huge amenity that people are willing to pay for."
Architecture Critic Carter Horsley Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.