One Strivers Row, 2605 Frederick Douglass Boulevard: Review and Ratings

Review of 2605 Frederick Douglass Boulevard by Carter Horsley

The Almat Group LLC, of which Donald Matheson is a principal, erected in 2006 this 7-story residential condominium apartment project that incorporates the shell of a 5-story building that was erected in 1894 at 2605 Frederick Douglass Boulevard on the southwest corner at 139th Street.

The project contains 14 apartments and was designed by Michael Ivanhoe McCaw.

It is across Frederick Douglass Boulevard from Strivers Row, a group of tan-brick townhouses between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 138th and 139th Streets that comprise the St. Nicholas Historic District, created in 1967, and was rebuilt in the 1890s by David H. King Jr., who commissioned three major architecture firms - McKim, Mead & White, Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce, and James Brown Lord - to design the townhouses. The 1900 census indicated that residents were white middle-class business and professional people, many of whom were Jewish.

King's speculative development was underwritten by the Equitable Life Assurance Society, which took it over following the financial panic of 1893. After World War I, many black professionals began acquiring the houses and residents included W. C. Handy, Scott Joplin, Bill (Bojangles) Robinson, Fletcher Henderson and Eubie Blake.

An article by Paula Deitz in the April 16, 1981 edition of The New York Times indicated that houses in good condition in the district were then selling for more than $100,000 with an average price of about $75,000.

An article by Laura McCandlish in the January 13, 2005 edition of The Amsterdam News indicated that some of the renovated houses on "Strivers' Row" were "selling for as much as $2 million a piece."

According to Ellen Shandalow of Warburg Realty, a three-bedroom apartment with two-and-a-half baths and 1,586 square feet at 2605 Frederick Douglass Boulevard is now priced at $1,030,250. Other units include a one-bedroom, one-bath unit with 712 square feet that is priced at $465,000 and a two-bedroom, two-bath unit with 1,244 square feet that is priced at $820,380.

The modern façade of the 7-story building wraps over the top of the masonry façade of the 1894 building.

The building has a roof deck, video intercom security, bicycle and stroller storage, Sub-Zero refrigerators, Bosch dishwashers and ovens, wide-plank white oak flooring, and washers and dryers in each unit.

In addition to the residential units, the building has a commercial unit and community space.

The building is close to the City College of New York.