Grand Chelsea, 270 West 17th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 270 West 17th Street by Carter Horsley

This attractive, 21-story residential building at 270 West 17^th Street on the southeast corner at Eighth Avenue in Chelsea has 157 condominium apartments and opened in 1989.

It is known as Grand Chelsea.

It was developed by 128 Eighth Avenue Associates, Philip Pilevsky and others.

It was designed by James Steward Polshek, whose architectural firm also designed such superb residential projects as Washington Court on the Avenue of the Americas in Greenwich Village in 1984 and 500 Park Avenue Tower on 59th Street in 1980. 

Bottom Line

A pleasant mid-rise apartment building in central Chelsea with white bandcourses, balconies with diagonal bracing and some small square windows and some square, roofline punchouts.

Description

This red-brick project, which has a grey-brick center portion of the tower’s façade facing the avenue, is a very strong composition of a low-rise base with a setback tower.

The sidestreet entrance has large canopies in a two-story section of the base, which elsewhere is 7 stories.

The roofline of the base is very attractive with punched-out squares and the base has some small square windows.

The building’s balconies has diagonal bracing and there are some corner windows.

The building has discrete air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a full-time doorman, a porter and a superintendent.  There is a laundry on the second floor with access to the south-facing second floor sun deck.  The building is pet friendly.

Apartments

Many of the apartments have corner windows and open kitchens and some have fireplaces.

The smallest apartments are one-bedroom units.

Apartment 2B is a three-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads past a 9-foot-deep study to a 38-foot-long great room with an open kitchen with an island.

Penthouse C is a one-bedroom unit with an entry foyer across from an 8-foot-long kitchen with a pass-through to a 23-foot-wide living room with a balcony.

Apartment 7G is a one-bedroom unit with a 6-foot-long entry foyer that leads past a 7-foot-wide, pass-through kitchen to a 9-foot-wide dining area that opens onto a 14-foot-wide living room with two steps up to a 17-foot-deep terrace with a sliding door.  The 16-foot-long bedroom has a two-step-up access to a 17-foot-long narrow section of the terrace.

Apartment 18G is a one-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads past an 8-foot-long, pass-through kitchen to a 22-foot-long living room with a 10-foot-wide balcony accessed from the bedroom.

Apartment 9G is a one-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads past a 7-foot-wide, pass-through kitchen to a 21-foot-wide living room and a 10-foot-wide balcony.