150 Charles Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 150 Charles Street by Carter Horsley

This large 15-story building at 150 Charles Street occupies about three-quarters of a block in the Far West Village. 

While it was still under construction in 2013, it sold out. It was built by The Witkoff Group, of which Steve Witkoff is a principal, and contains 91 condominium apartments and has 10 four-story townhouse units with their own street entrances. 

It was designed by CookFox, which created a 12-story addition to an existing three-story Whitehall storage facility at this site.  CookFox also designed the angular and very modern One Bryant Park on the northwest corner of Sixth Avenue and 42^nd Street.  

The building is also bounded by West 10^th Street and Washington Street and its highest levels are by Washington Street and its two wings step down towards West Street and the Hudson River. 

Alan Wanzenberg was the interior designer. 

The building was completed in 2015 and is just to the south of the three residential towers designed by Richard Meier facing the Hudson River.

Bottom Line

A handsome, large building with wonderful multi-pane windows and many amenities including a landscaped courtyard, a 75-foot-long pool, a large lobby and a garage in a prime Far West Village location.

Description

The building occupies the block bounded by West, Washington, Charles and West 10^th Streets and the developer agreed not to build to the maximum size permitted under zoning.

Some neighborhood residents had been concerned that the developer would opt to build a 32-story especially since the city excluded the site when it downzoned this section of the West Village in 2005.

According to an November 7, 2007 article by Patrick Hedlund in The Villager, Scott Alper, a partner in the Witkoff organization, said that the developer wanted the preserve the base of the warehouse and said that building a massive tower would “stick out like a sore thumb,” adding that the project’s ten four-story townhouse units put “eyes on the streets” and maintain the warehouse’s façade.

According to the project’s architects, the development has more landscaped space than Abingdon Square Park, Christopher Square Park and the Jefferson Market Garden.

Another large site that was excluded from the rezoning was the Superior Ink plant that was redeveloped by The Related Companies and designed by Robert A. M. Stern.

The building has a high fenestration ratio with multi-paned windows, many of which are at corners and a red-brick façade that gives way to black metal on the upper floors and at the indented center of its “U”-shaped plan.

The CookFox design retains the masonry façades of the former Whitehall storage facility and its addition is red terracotta, metal and glass. 

The building steps down with numerous terraces towards the Hudson River from Washington Street.

The building, which is to the south of the three mid-rise glass towers facing the Hudson River designed by Richard Meier, is expected to seek a gold LEED rating from the U. S. Green Building Council. 

“The historic brick architecture of the West Village will be echoed in the terra cotta cladding of the new building,” the website also proclaimed.

The building has sidewalk landscaping.

Amenities

The building has a grand, 24-foot-high lobby with a fireplace and American walnut and white oak paneling overlooking the large garden. 

The “Club Level” has a 75-foot-long lap pool, hot tub, children’s playroom, yoga and exercise rooms, sauna and steam rooms, ladies’ and gentlemen’s locker rooms and a juice bar. 

The building also has a 24-hour doorman, porter and live-in resident manager, an entertainment lounge, storage units, private outdoor courtyard, private covered driveway, bicycle storage, valet service, and a garage.

Apartments

Apartments have high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and walk-in closets.  Kitchens are by Molteni with hardware by Lefroy Brooks and Nanz. 

Penthouse B is a triplex in the north wing with five bedrooms with 4,510 square feet of interior space and 2,525 square feet of exterior space

Unit 4 is a three-bedroom triplex with 3,248 square feet that has an entry foyer that leads to a 14-foot-long gallery that opens onto a 12-foot-long dining area next to a 15-foot-wide kitchen and a 18-foot-wide great room next to a large garden terrace with a 17-foot-wide recreation room on the lower level and two bedrooms on the upper level. 

Apartment B on the 10^th, 11^th, 12^th and 14^th floors is a four-bedroom unit between the north and south wings with a 9-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 26-foot-wide great room facing the garden and a 13-foot-long gallery that opens onto a 15-foot-long, enclosed kitchen with an adjoining breakfast room.  A 16-foot-long library with a corner window adjoins the master bedroom. 

Apartment 9B is a four-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads to a 26-foot-long great room that leads to a 13-foot-long gallery that opens onto a long kitchen with a breakfast room. 

Apartment 3HSouth is a three-bedroom unit with a 13-foot-wide entry foyer that leads past a pass-through, 20-foot-wide kitchen to a 28-foot-long great room. 

Apartment 4A is a three-bedroom unit with a 14-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to an 18-foot-long gallery and a 29-foot-long great room with a 12-foot-long pass-through kitchen. 

Apartment 2C South is a corner, two-bedroom unit with 2,295 square feet of interior space with a long entrance gallery that leads to an angled livingroom and a pass-through kitchen. 

Apartment 2A is a two-bedroom unit with a 5-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long gallery that opens to an 11-foot-long open kitchen and a 20-foot-long great room.

Apartment 4F is a three-bedroom unit that has a 19-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to an open14-foot-long kitchen and a 25-foot-long great room with a corner terrace.

Apartment 7DNorth is a two-bedroom unit that has a 6-foot-long entry foyer that leads past a 21-foot-long great room and an open, 14-foot-long kitchen with an island and an 18-foot-long gallery.

History

The site was one of two large properties that were not included in the city’s 2005 rezoning of the area.  The other is the former Superior Ink plant that was redeveloped by The Related Companies and designed by Robert A. M. Stern. 

In a March 17, 2013 article by Alexei Barrionuevo in The New York Times, Mr. Witkoff was quoted as saying that “we don’t have any global buyers,” adding that “we didn’t get the L.A. crowd” and “this went to New Yorkers that wanted to live there with their families.” 

The article noted that the building has two gas-powered generators with submarine doors on top of the building, which were added to the designs after “Hurricane Sandy.”

It added that in December 2012 the city denied a request by some residences in the area to revoke the building’s construction permit.  They wanted a taller building that would cast fewer shadows and obstruct fewer views.