345 Meatpacking, 345 West 14th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 345 West 14th Street by Carter Horsley

345 Meatpacking is a stunning, 11-story residential condominium building with 37 units at 345 West 14^th Street.

After remaining vacant since 2006, the mid-block site between Ninth and Eighth Avenues was developed by DDG Partners beginning in 2011.

H. Thomas O'Hara served as the architect on the project that lies outside both the manufacturing and landmark zones for the district.

Elodie Egonneau of Future Green Studio was the landscape designer.

Bottom Line

A building in a gray-flannel suit with a bronzed head, 345 Meatpacking is perhaps the most conservative of Chelsea’s early 21^st Century bumper crop of architecture “wows.”

Its ragged and sharp quoins, cocked “hat” top and large, perforated “flowerbox” canopy, however, reinvent the notions of building delineation, branding, and sidewalk landscaping, all in the lee of The Porter House, Chelsea’s famous design lighthouse around the corner. This type of second-generation one-upmanship may cause pedestrian mishaps and double-takes. What was that building I saw you with?

Description

The building has several setbacks on its 14^th Street façade rising towards Eighth Avenue and sections of the top three-floors are faced with bronze with vertical accents while the rest of the building is faced with light-gray, hand-laid Kolumba brick from Denmark.

The building is around the Ninth Avenue corner from The Porter House, the Meatpacking District’s iconic residential conversion project at 360 West 15^th Street and this building’s bronze vertical accents pay homage to its vertical strips of lighting.

The building’s entry is a custom bronze and glass gate beneath a broad, landscaped marquee that stretches over its flanking retail spaces.

The lobby has vaulted ceilings, a cantilevered steel and brass concierge desk, board-formed concrete and custom wood paneled walls, planted grotto with water feature, and Lindsey Adelman lighting.

Amenities

The building has a building-wide, green entrance marquee, a landscaped roof deck, 24/7 doorman and concierge, lobby and elevator card access security system, a fitness center with oak floors, timber joists and board-formed concrete, rainwater collection and irrigation system, in-residence laundries, a private storage and a bicycle room.

Apartments

Kitchens have oxidized oak millwork and bronze detailing, honed Absolute Black granite countertops, Dornbracht Tara fixtures, Mila stainless steel undermount sinks and Insinkerator disposal, 36-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator, Wolfe 36-inch cooktop with concealed, fully-vented Miele hood, Wolf 30-inch oven, Sub-Zero under-counter wine cooler, Bosch dishwasher and recessed halogen ceiling lights and under-cabinet counter  lighting.

Master bathrooms have glass-enclosed shower and wet room with slabs of Spanish Travertine marble, Dornbracht rain showerhead, solid brass vanity with honed Absolute Black granite countertop, Duravit sink with Dornbracht Tara fixtures in chrome, and Robern mirrored medicine cabinet.

Secondary bathrooms have Toto dual-flush water closets and Villeroy & Boch sinks with Hansgrohe fixtures.

Penthouses have 7 ½ -inch wide Austrian white oak plank floors with zoned floor patterns, recessed zoning ceilings with milled paneling, floor-to-ceiling bronze window walls, Italian out-swing bronze doors, solid plate stainless steel window stills and lintels, solid wood window and door trim, Daikin three-pipe, split HVAC system with zoned climate control.

Some apartments have rear balconies.

Residence 3B is a one-bedroom, one-bath unit with a “L”-shaped entry foyer that opens onto a 11-foot-wide open kitchen with an island next to a 14-foot-long living area.

Residence 2C is a one-bedroom unit with a foyer that opens onto a 14-foot-wide open kitchen with an island next to a 10-foot-wide dining area and a 17-foot-wide living area that opens onto a 23-foot-wide terrace.

Residence 2D is a one-bedroom, two-bath unit with a long entry foyer that leads to a 16-foot-long library/media area adjacent to an 11-foot-wide dining area opposite an open kitchen with an island and a 17-foot-long living room that opens onto a 23-foot-long terrace.

Residence 8B is a two-bedroom, two-bath unit with a 27-foot-long living/dining space with a 16-foot-wide open kitchen with an island.

Penthouse D is a three-bedroom, 2 ½-bath unit with a 26-foot-long living room next to a 24-foot-long dining area with an open kitchen with an island.  The apartment also has a 16-foot-long family room and a 36-foot-long terrace.

History

A May 10, 2010 article by Anton Troianovski in The Wall Street Journal said that DDG had acquired the loan at a discount on the property that had been planned to be developed by Jay-Z and Andre Balazs.

An August 3, 2012 article by Laura Kusisto in The Wall Street Journal noted that the building  was covered for about a month that year in a “striking bumble-bee-colored contemporary work – a 120-foot reproduction of ‘Yellow Trees’ by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama” to coincide with an retrospective exhibition of the artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The article said that a person familiar with the matter said that the project’s cost was “in the six figures.” It also said that Joe McMillan, chief executive of DDG, “said it was more costly to get the unique design printed and more time-consuming to get special city approvals” but “he said he hoped it would set the Meatpacking District project apart.”

An article by Kyle Chayka at BlouinArtInfo said that “it is perhaps funny that the Japanese artist’s work will appear on a net, given that Kusama calls her mammoth, minimalist, polka-dotted canvases ‘infinity nets.’ The article added that “With its sweeping bands of black covered in bright yellow spots,” it is “visible form the High Line (and every building in the neighborhood), Manhattan’s newest piece of public art will doubtless become an eye-bending attraction. Just don’t stare too long – you might start to hallucinate.”

DDG Partners previously developed 41 Bond Street in NoHo.