15 Leonard Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 15 Leonard Street by Carter Horsley

This modern, mid-block, 9-story building at 15 Leonard Street in TriBeCa was erected by Steven Schnall and Gold Development, which is headed by Romy Goldman, in 2015 and designed by Wayne Turett and Curtis + Ginsberg Architects with 60-foot-wide living rooms and only six condominium apartments.

Mr. Schnall is the head of the New York Mortgage Company and built the 6-story, 11,000-square-foot, single-family house at 2 North Moore Street at West Broadway that he called “Our Suburbs” and which he sold for $24 million, a record for a townhouse downtown to Mark Zittman, a managing director of Guggenheim Associates.

This building’s façade is framed in red brick and consists of metal panels and clear and channel glass with an irregular fenestration pattern similar to that employed at 25 Bond Street.

The building has a wide suspended entry marquee with sidewalk landscaping and sliding garage doors.

Mr. Schnall bought this property from Clark Construction for $10 million, according to therealdeal.com.

Bottom Line

This spunky building is on a cobblestone street just a few doors west of the spectacular 56 Leonard Street tower designed by Herzog & de Meuron and features only six apartments with, naturally, spectacular 60-foot-wide living rooms that are not the rule.

Description

On his website, architect Turett remarked that this 75-foot-wide site had been occupied by single-story “derelict garages for decades: neighborhood groups and the Landmarks Preservation Commission were pleased enough to see them go but also intensely sensitive to the every detail of the proposed new structure.”

“After a prolonged and fruitful collaboration with interested groups,” he continued, “the final design incorporates contextual and traditional motifs both overtly and subtly, while presenting them in a contemporary way. Overall organization (base-shaft-attic and cornice), muscular steel horizontals engaged in continuous red brick piers, large vertically-proportioned windows, steel-and-glass awnings, and richness of texture and color help situate the building in its historic setting. Extensive use of vertical channel glass, custom elongated brick proportions, and syncopated symmetries in the window layout identify this as a modern interpretation.”

The owner of the adjoining smaller building at 17 Leonard Street, Christopher Rolf, accused Mr. Schall’s construction of creating a crack in his building but in January, 2015 he sold his building for $11,165,000.

Amenities

Virtual doorman, video intercom system, private keyed elevator access, laundry room, storage and garage.

Apartments

Apartments have smokeless limestone fireplaces, motorized shades, washers and dryers, and 6-inch-wide plank walnut flooring.

Kitchens have 6-burner Wolf gas ranges, a 48-inch Sub-Zero side-by-side refrigerator, a 24-inch Sub-Zero under-counter wine cooler and a 24-inch Bosch dishwasher and Caesarstone island and countertops, marble backsplashes and Italian matte white lacquer and stained oak wood cabinetry.

Baths have Elena Deep Soaking Tubs by MTI in white stone, Toto toilets, and limestone walls and flooring with radiant heating.

Mr. Schnall has taken the first two floors and the basement for a 7,900-square-foot triplex apartment and it has a lap pool in the basement, a garage, and a small, half-court basketball court.

In an April 16, 2014 article by Max Gross in The New York Post, Mr. Schnall said “our first buyer wanted to make it a condition of the contract that we’re going to live there,” adding that “’we didn’t want it to be the owners of the building [who] made the Taj Mahal for themselves”’ and gave everyone else the shaft.”

The other units are full-floor, four-bedroom units of 2,621 square feet.