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Sales progress at Altair 18 in Chelsea
By Carter Horsley   |   From Archives Thursday, January 26, 2006
About five contracts have been entered since sales began last November for residential condominiums at Altair 18, the handsome, pre-war, 12-story building at 32 West 18th Street that is being converted from a commercial building by Extell Development Company.

The handsome building will have 22 units that range in size from about 3,000 to 3,300 square feet and whose prices start at about $2,200,000. A 3-bedroom 3-bath unit on the sixth floor with 3,007 square feet is priced at $3,375,000 and a 3-bedroom, 3-bath penthouse with 3,258 square feet and a terrace is priced at $4,550,000.

It will have a 24-hour concierge in the lobby that features laurel wood wrapped walls and ceilings.

Apartments will wood-burning fireplaces and ceilings that range in height from 10 feet 6 inches to 11 feet 2 inches and radiant heat flooring with a choice of limestone or whide plant white oak flooring. Kitchens are lined with rosewood by Valcucine of Italy and will have Miele coffeemakers with cup and plate warmers and select residences with have refrigerated drawers in addition to a full integrated Sub-Zero refrigerator, double-wall ovens and wine coolers, and white glass countertops and backsplashes.

Bathrooms will have a Bain Ultra Thermo Masseur tub and Dornbracht fittings, a Sony Wega flat panel television and walls lined with Bleu de Savoie and Grigio Carnico marbles.

The building will also have a fitness center by La Palestra, and a landscaped rooftop deck with cabana.

The mid-block building is just to the west of a construction site for a new rental apartment building.

Extell is also developing another pre-war commercial building nearby at 15 West 20th Street, which it is calling Altair 20. Extell likes to name its buildings after celestial objects. Its other projects include the Ariel West and Ariel East on Broadway at 99th Street and the Orion on West 42nd Street, all new construction projects.
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.