A November 28, 2008 article by Josh Barbanel in The New York Times said that the conversion of the 18-story office building to residential condominium apartments at 114 East 32nd Street is being abandoned and that the building will now be converted to a hotel.
The project had been named Jasper and Mr. Barbanel's story indicated that name will be kept for the hotel.
The building was being developed by Morgan 32 Holdings LLC of which Harry Jeremias is a principal is the developer. Ismael Leyva is the architect. The apartment building was to have 80 apartments, a 24-hour attended lobby, a swimming pool, a fitness center and a children's play area and its website had described the project as the "ultimate contemporary-chic urban loft environment...with a luxurious palette of rich woods and cool stone."
The apartment building design was notable for the large fireplace next to the swimming pool and for the illuminated sidewalk in front of the building's entrance that had a marquee that slanted upwards away from the pre-war building that is between Park and Lexington Avenues and close to the Murray Hill district and good public transportation.
The article indicated that sales "sputtered to a halt in the last few months, after a total of 43 apartments had gone into contract."
"Last week, the developers, facing both an uncertain market and the need to provide several million dollars in new capital to cover cost overruns, decided to pull the plug on the condominium, and return the deposits of would-be buyers," the article continued, added that Mr. Jeremias said "he had come to an agreement with a European investment fund to convert the 18-story building into a 200-room boutique hotel, to open in about a year."
The hotel will utilize many of the features planned for the condominium project and Mr. Jeremias was quoted in the article as stating that the "current investors would retain a minority interest in the property" and that "the cost of converting the building to a hotel would come in well below the cost of building a similar hotel, though hotel occupancy and profits are likely to falter in the near future."
The project had been named Jasper and Mr. Barbanel's story indicated that name will be kept for the hotel.
The building was being developed by Morgan 32 Holdings LLC of which Harry Jeremias is a principal is the developer. Ismael Leyva is the architect. The apartment building was to have 80 apartments, a 24-hour attended lobby, a swimming pool, a fitness center and a children's play area and its website had described the project as the "ultimate contemporary-chic urban loft environment...with a luxurious palette of rich woods and cool stone."
The apartment building design was notable for the large fireplace next to the swimming pool and for the illuminated sidewalk in front of the building's entrance that had a marquee that slanted upwards away from the pre-war building that is between Park and Lexington Avenues and close to the Murray Hill district and good public transportation.
The article indicated that sales "sputtered to a halt in the last few months, after a total of 43 apartments had gone into contract."
"Last week, the developers, facing both an uncertain market and the need to provide several million dollars in new capital to cover cost overruns, decided to pull the plug on the condominium, and return the deposits of would-be buyers," the article continued, added that Mr. Jeremias said "he had come to an agreement with a European investment fund to convert the 18-story building into a 200-room boutique hotel, to open in about a year."
The hotel will utilize many of the features planned for the condominium project and Mr. Jeremias was quoted in the article as stating that the "current investors would retain a minority interest in the property" and that "the cost of converting the building to a hotel would come in well below the cost of building a similar hotel, though hotel occupancy and profits are likely to falter in the near future."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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