A tony enclave of Manhattan’s Sutton Place has long served as a quiet retreat for the city’s upper crust. But the Bauhouse Group is betting that change is afoot.
The firm announced Friday it has acquired a fourth rental property, 426 E. 58th St., and 100,000 square feet of air rights for an undisclosed price, which will allow it to build a 95-unit condo building designed by starchitect Norman Foster’s firm along East 58th Street. Bauhouse—which purchased three contiguous buildings for $32 million in January—plans to raze all four of the structures to make way for the new 200,000-square-foot apartment building.
“There hasn’t been a true ultra-luxury building (in the neighborhood) since Rosario Candela did One Sutton Place South in 1927,” said Joseph Beninati, managing member of the Bauhouse Group, referencing a stately 14-story apartment building between East 56th and East 57th streets.
The firm plans to roll out renderings and specifics on its condo building this spring, before beginning construction over the summer. The development will be in close proximity to midtown’s Plaza District, but more importantly, will be just across the river from the forthcoming Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island–accessible by train or cable car.
“What is going to happen (on Roosevelt Island) is a true game changer, and something that will make this neighborhood forever different,” said Mr. Beninati.
Plans have been drawn up for a luxury 900-foot condo tower in Sutton Place, which, if completed as planned, would rank as one of the tallest buildings in Manhattan.
The 268,000-square-foot tower will become the second-tallest on the Upper East Side, behind the in-progress 432 Park Avenue at 1,400 feet, and one of the tallest in the city.
Construction permits have not yet been filed for 426-432 East 58th Street, allowing the massive project to fly mostly under the radar until now. Councilmember Ben Kallos, whose district includes Sutton Place, was only made aware of the project last week, as were members of Community Board 6.
A sales brochure put together by Cushman and Wakefield dubs the project as the “Sutton Place Development,” and notes it is “an ultra-luxury, as of right, ground up, opportunity which will reach over 900 feet tall and feature unparalleled 360 degree views of Midtown, Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, Central Park and the East River.”
The 268,000 square feet of buildable space and air rights, which includes 58,000 square feet of inclusionary housing rights, have already been delivered. It’s unclear if the affordable housing will be offered on- or off-site, or how many units of affordable housing will be included. Representatives for The Bauhouse Group, which owns the site, declined to field questions about the Sutton Place Development, but a representative of the company provided a press release to Our Town that said the project will include about 95 units.
“In the upcoming weeks we will present our specific plans for the site and conduct an open dialogue with members of the Sutton Place community,” said Chris Jones, co-founder of The Bauhouse Group in the press release. “We’re looking forward to this discussion and the next phase of this exciting development.”
Cushman and Wakefield’s brochure goes on to say that the assemblage making the development possible consists of four building lots totaling 80 feet of frontage on East 58th Street between 1st Avenue and Sutton Place. The depth of the lot is 100 feet.
There are also indications that Bauhouse is looking to offload the site to another developer, and that whoever winds up buying the lot could build even higher than 900 feet.
“Located in an R10 zone, there are no height restrictions on the Sutton Place Tower, which means a buyer could expand the site through additional air rights purchases,” said the brochure.
Kallos said he’s opposed to a high-rise luxury residential tower in a residential neighborhood, and will be looking to mobilize the community to push back against the size and scope of the Sutton Place Development.
“The brochure tells the story for us,” said Kallos. “What’s most concerning to me about [the project] is that it’s creating a future where the only people that will have a right to light and air are the people who can afford it.”
Kallos pointed out that the sales brochure touts views above the 50th floor that will have unobstructed views.
“They don’t even bother showing what views will look like for the first 100 feet,” said Kallos.
Community Board 6 chair Sandro Sherrod told Our Town that the board, like Kallos, was just made aware of what’s being proposed at Sutton Place through constituents. But because the project is as of right, any plans that are filed with the Dept. of Buildings would not come before the board for review.
“Our board does hold a long-standing position that development should be contextually appropriate to its immediate environment and we will be reaching out to the developer to learn more about this project and how it might impact the area,” said Sherrod.
Kallos reinforced his opposition to the project as proposed and urged constituents to contact local elected officials to voice their concerns. With enough community support, he said, it’s possible to insert a zoning text amendment or height restriction before the developer builds over 50 percent of the base of the building.
“This is our chance, otherwise we will get a super-scraper in a residential neighborhood and we won’t be able to do anything about it,” said Kallos. “This is literally about the one percent having light and air, and the rest not.”
But it’s clear from the sales brochure that the ability to build big is one of the assemblage’s biggest selling points, and that whoever buys the site will likely have plans to build as tall as possible.
“Due to numerous restrictive co-ops, historical townhouses, and parks, Sutton Place has seen virtually no new ultra-luxury residential development and will see no comparable opportunities in terms of size, scope, impact, or luxury,” said the brochure. “This is truly a one of a kind opportunity to build an instance classic that will impact the New York City skyline.”
Developer scales back plans for East Side skyscraper, which is now projected to cost $750M-plus
Joseph Beninati’s Bauhouse Group is seeking an $80 million mezzanine loan to fund his troubled residential skyscraper project at 3 Sutton Place, according to investor documents reviewed by The Real Deal.
The upcoming tower at 426-432 East 58th Street, which is facing fierce resistance from area residents, is now slated to be 68 stories tall — down from 80 stories in August. The total project size is slated to be 286,000 square feet, with condos slated to be priced between $5 million and $6 million. That’s according to a letter sent to potential lenders by the Carlton Group, which is trying to arrange financing for Bauhouse.
Sources said that Beninati has approached developers such as Michael Stern of JDS Development Group to partner up with him on the project. A source familiar with JDS said that though Stern had a preliminary discussion about the project, talks did not progress past that point. Reached for comment Friday, a JDS spokesperson said the firm was “definitively not involved” with the project. Douglas Elliman chair Howard Lorber is acting as a consultant on the project, according to the letter. A spokesperson for Lorber couldn’t be immediately reached for comment, and a spokesperson for Elliman declined to comment.
Bauhouse assembled the site and the necessary air rights for about $70 million, city records show. According to the letter, the project’s total pre-development costs will be $231 million, which includes a $71 million first mortgage, the $80 million mezzanine loan, and $80 million of equity. Total construction costs are slated to be $526 million, which includes $120 million in EB-5 funds.
Foster + Partners is slated to design the tower, according to previous news reports, but there was no mention of Foster in the letter. Representatives for Bauhouse declined to comment, as did representatives for Carlton.
Credit: Bauhouse Group | 3 Sutton Place | 426-432 East 58th Street
900-Foot Sutton Place Tower Will Get Major Height Cut: Sources
The Real Deal reports. While the number of stories have reduced, it’s not immediately clear how much the actual height will reduce itself or whether there will be larger floors. Either way the project has received a great deal of pushback from community groups like the East River 50s Alliance, who have also now released a proposed zoning plan to ban megatowers in that part of the Upper East Side.
TRD got its hands on a letter sent out by one of the co-developers of the project, The Carlton Group, seeking money to finance the project, which goes by 3 Sutton Place. The documents reveal that the total size of the project will be about 286,000 square feet and that the units will be priced between $5 million and $6 million.
Carlton along with the lead developer on the project, the Bauhouse Group have struggled to find financing for the building since August last year, and even at a reduced height it is expected to cost about $750 million.
When we last checked in with the project, Norman Foster was slated to design the building, but according to TRD, his architecture firm has not been mentioned in the letter acquired by the publication.
I’m not sure if I can trust that article from TRD. Just last month the story was out how developers were bumping up the heights of their towers by giving mechanical floors more height. The developer of this tower was quoted to want more units above 700 feet, so they beefed up the mechanical floors to something like 24 feet in height. Not to mention the floor count could have been inflated and they might have further increased ceiling heights. Either way, a tower well over 700’ tall should rise here. Any height cut would likely not be too significant.
I think just a pause… the next cycle should be more exciting because it won’t just be 57th Street booming… Hudson Yards is finally coming along and we should see development continue in the more peripheral boom areas like DoBro and LIC, where prices have not gone to insane heights, and where relatively affordable supertalls are now beginning to pencil out.
Silverstein’s 41st Street tower, the one revealed in LIC the other day, and 340 Flatbush EXT (although probably more $$ than the other two) are great examples of the kind of dev I expect now through the next cycle, which is actually better vs. the current billionaire buildings.
The only part of Manhattan where I think this would occur would be the area to the north of Hudson Yards, around the 42nd Street corridor (right around the Silverstein proposal)
I have nothing wrong with a pause in these mega projects for the time being, it’ll be good to catch up on and focus on the current U/C projects, and hopefully one they’re nearly complete, the next phase would have taken off
