The Nathaniel, 138 East 12th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 138 East 12th Street by Carter Horsley

The Nathaniel is a 9-story, brick building at 138 East 12^th Street in the East Village with 85 rental apartments.

It was designed by Colum McCartan and Karl Fisher and completed in 2014 by Wafra Invest Nathaniel L.P, which acquired it from YYY Third Avenue of which Michael Tucker was a principal.

According to an October 14, 2014 by Zoe Rosenberg at ny.curbed.com, the building, which is also known as 74 Third Avenue, is named after Nathaniel Taggart, a grandfather of the protagonist in “Atlas Shrugged,” the Ayn Rand novel.

The building is on a former parking lot.

Bottom Line

A utilitarian “plain box” that gives no outward hint of its unusual, large, paneled lobby with a large vitrine with knick-knacks on one side of its free-standing mailboxes, or of its large rooftop reflecting pool. 

Description

The building has one setback and uniform fenestration except for one bay of narrow windows.

It has a large, landscaping roof deck with a large reflecting pool.

The building has a revolving door entrance that opens onto a double-height, dark wood paneled lobby with black flooring with some checkerboard runners and low circular orange seats.

The lobby has a free-standing glass display case with mechanical oddities and knick-knacks on the other side of the building’s mail boxes.  On the other side of a free-standing bookcase, the lobby also has a billiards tale and seating.

There is a side landscaped courtyard outside the building’s gym.

The building, which is on the southwest corner of Third Avenue and 12^th Street, has 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail space and 8,000 square feet of basement retail space.

Amenities

The building has a 24-hour attended lobby, a gym, a bicycle room, a large, roof-top, “sunset deck” with reflecting pool and the Nathaniel Club.

Pets are allowed.

Apartments

All apartments have washers and dryers, white oak floors, gloss kitchen cabinetry with wenge wood details, a Liebherr refrigerator and Caesarstone Blizzard White kitchen countertops.

Some of the apartments have a fold-down medicine cabinet.

Apartment A is a three-bedroom unit on floors 3 through 8 with a long entry foyer that leads to a 26-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen.  Three-bedrooms were initially marketed at more than $11,000 a month.

One-bedroom units on floors 3 through 8 have an entry foyer next to the pass-through kitchen and the 19-foot-long living/dining room.

Apartment E on floors 3 through 8 is a one-bedroom unit with a long entry foyer that leads to an 18-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen.

Apartment B is a studio unit on floors 3 through 8 with a 20-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen.

Several ground floor apartments have private outdoor space next to the courtyard.