SoHo Mews, 311 West Broadway: Review and Ratings

Review of 311 West Broadway by Carter Horsley

SoHo Mews, a very handsome, 67-unit, residential condominium development, consists of a 9-story building at 311 West Broadway in SoHo and an 8-story building on Wooster Street, which has cobblestones.

The project, which has 58 lofts, 5 townhouses, and 4 penthouses, is directly across West Broadway from the impressive SoHo Grand Hotel.

United American Land LLC, of which Albert, Jason and Jody Laboz are principals, was the developer. Gwathmey Siegel & Associates was the architect.

Bottom Line

SoHo Mews is a very attractive and elegant two-building complex with a very impressive garden and extensive art program that is across from the SoHo Grand Hotel in the Historic SoHo Landmark District. 

Description

The finely articulated metal-clad façades of SoHo Mews are rectangular grids with recessed windows that handsomely recall the district’s cast-iron architectural history.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the plans, which it described as "an elegant interpretation of the SoHo aesthetic" and "a beautiful and supremely appropriate addition to the district."

The building’s Wooster Street façade has built-in sidewalk planters and two-story high pilasters, the non-free-standing, vertical architectural elements that resemble columns.

The West Broadway entrance lobby has an undulating ceiling, French walnut seating and concierge desk, granite floors and ramp and a four-step-down lobby.

The very attractive, large center garden has serpentine benches and trellises.

The building has an entrance marquee on West Broadway.

Amenities

Amenities at SoHo Mews include 24-hour doorman, attended parking, a fitness center managed by Drive 495 and a 24-hour in-building concierge service provided by Luxury Attaché.

The public spaces in the two lobbies, along with the private garden, feature contemporary art commissioned by the Art Production Fund.

The marketing for the project emphasized that SoHo Mews residents not only become members of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, but also can avail themselves of an art information service provided by Art Production Fund, an on-site non-profit organization.

Residents can also receive "shopping benefits" from Moss, a design store on Greene Street, as well as Fort Street Studio, a carpet maker. They also have privileged exhibition previews at the Deitch Projects gallery. 

Apartments

Apartments are spacious and light-filled because of large windows. Ceiling heights are at least 10 feet.

Penthouses have gas-burning fireplaces with stone surrounds and setback terraces with a spa tub.

With over-scaled, sound attenuating, 4-pane picture windows, apartments have custom Valcucine kitchens with cabinets of striated elm and smoked matte glass, Jet Mist granite countertops, Gaggenau, Miele and Sub-Zero appliances and wide plank Mau Vulcano flooring.

Apartments also have Bosch washers and dryers and master bathrooms have cantilevered Valcucine millwork double-vanities with French walnut finish and Jet Mist granite tops in honed finish and walls and floors adorned with statuary white marble.

There are 58 two- and three-bedroom lofts with floor-to-ceiling windows, 5 two-story townhouses and four penthouses with terraces and outdoor spa features.

The 2,110-square-foot, two-bedroom units in the B line on West Broadway have a long gallery that leads directly to a den with a kitchen and a very large living area overlooking West Broadway.

The 2,195-square-foot, three bedroom units in the A line on West Broadway have a long gallery, three bathrooms and a powder room.

One of the townhouses on Wooster Street has an entrance gallery with a curved wall that leads up two stairs to a very long gallery.  The gallery leads past the large kitchen and living room to the unit’s 280-square-foot private garden.  The unit has three bedrooms and three baths and 3,184 square feet.

History

United American Land acquired the vacant site in 2005 for about $35 million and began construction in April, 2006. Sales started in July, 2007. 

In an essay in the project’s 40-page brochure, architect Charles Gwathmey recalled growing “up on the edge of SoHo” and seeing the neighborhood change in his lifetime. “I remember it changing when the galleries starting coming in - first Leo Castelli, and then all the others, Then the artists moved in, and brought with them the idea of loft living, which was a perfect mix with modernism: the sense of open space, the free plan, not having rooms in the traditional sense, but being more about space-making. The idea was to have a large room and to place things in it to create privacy. That was a very powerful approach to domestic living, and it’s never been done better than it was here, where it was invented. And the scale of SoHo streets is unique.  This historical fabric of buildings - the whole cast-iron aesthetic, which the loft building expanded upon and transformed. The result is a neighborhood that’s on a pedestrian scale: it’s more European that way.  When you go there you don’t want to be in a car; you want to be walking around….It’s really a microcosm of what the ideal city neighborhood should be.”

Peter Walker and Partners, who has designed the public spaces and garden at the World Trade Center, designed the garden.

Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen, co-founders of the Art Production Fund, stated in the project’s brochure that they were “thrilled to be a partner with SoHo Mews and to have our offices there, alongside the great galleries and museums of SoHo.” 

They said their organization will “host residents of SoHo Mews by appointment to join us salon-style, in our ground-floor space for tea and conversation about contemporary art.”  “Should owners be busy during the day,” they continued, “the APF will create a monthly newsletter of insider art world happenings exclusively for SoHo Mews.  Moreover, we’ll be installing library shelves in the building’s common areas, and stocking them with rotating catalogues, articles and other material showcasing the most vibrant exhibitions going on in New York City.  Finally, and most significantly, we’ll be curating SoHo Mews’s own art collection, including site specific works in the lobby and garden, and carefully selected art for the elevator banks on all floors of both buildings.”