Living the high life: Tribeca shows 'em how it's done

Corcoran senior vice president Deborah Grubman still remembers her first sale in TriBeCa some 17 years ago. The neighborhood was new territory for not only the uptown broker, but her uptown clients, too.

 

The day before the couple was about to close on a place, Grubman said she took the unusual approach of telling them to walk around the neighborhood that night to make sure they knew what they were getting into.

 

"The next morning [the woman said], 'You know, we walked around last night. It's different, more cutting edge, a little grungier' ... but she also said, 'I feel like a pioneer. We feel like we're breaking new territory and I'm very excited about it.'" Grubman recalled. "They're still living there."

 

Today, it's doubtful any newcomers would feel like pioneers. TriBeCa, which is an acronym for Triangle Below Canal Street, is a firmly established neighborhood and home to some of the most expensive housing units in New York City.

 

The neighborhood's boundaries are generally considered from Canal Street south to Vessey Street, between the Hudson River on the west and Broadway (or Lafayette) on the east.

 

TriBeCa previously was home to the textile industry, but in the 1960s and 1970s the industry left, and artists and those seeking more adventurous digs converted these spaces into living quarters.

 

Grubman is currently selling one such conversion at the landmarked 2 North Moore. It's been turned into a one-of-a-kind, five-bedroom home with a staff apartment, lap pool and three-car garage. It's on the market for $29 million.

 

Grubman says that while Tribeca's loft spaces - with its brick and cast-iron architecture - are famous, new construction has come in over the years, too, bringing in a more modern aesthetic. Amenity-rich doorman buildings? Low-key, old-New-York-style buildings? "There's really everything," Grubman said.

 

Among the standout developments in Tribeca, 101 Warren is a two-building project developed by Edward J. Minskoff Equities in the Washington Market Urban Renewal District that has over 300 apartments, a fifth floor atrium with its own pine forest and garden maze. R Squared LLP built the boutique 34 Leonard Street co-op at 180 West Broadway, the site of an old garage; At the Tribeca Summit on Greenwich Street, developers, Joel Silver and Ethan Eldon converted a landmark eight-story warehouse into a collection of around 60 luxury condos; One York was designed by Enrique Norten and; the Sky Lofts on Hudson are considered by many to be the most spectacular penthouses in Tribeca.

 

TriBeCa is a place of cobblestone streets and top-notch eateries. Celebrities such as James Gandolfini, the late John F. Kennedy Jr., Mo Vaughn, Jay-Z and Leonardo DiCaprio have all purchased real estate here.

 

"I think it's the same things that attract us mere mortals," said Grubman when asked about the influx of big-name residents. "One of the big deals is having garages. They can just pull in and have a certain amount of privacy. There's also great restaurants, nice views and good services - all the usual things that attract people. There's also the cool factor of downtown."

 

TriBeCa is home to things like the TriBeCa Film Festival, the highly regarded P.S. 234 school and is an easy distance from the Hudson River Park and promenade.

 

Victoria Shtainer, senior vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said TriBeCa has an ever-popular Whole Foods supermarket and a neighborhood vibe all its own. "You can wander the streets like in Europe.

 

It doesn't feel like a city," said Shtainer, adding that several subway lines converge in the area. "It's a very central location."

 

Real estate everywhere has been hit by the down market, but Shtainer said TriBeCa has not fared too badly.

 

"It held up much better than Battery Park City, than the Financial District, that's for sure," she said. "It's really a place that people want to live. You don't see people moving there and then changing to different areas."

 

But Corcoran senior associate Ric Swezey sees TriBeCa real estate as having taken a pretty big dive when compared to neighborhoods such as the West Village.

 

"A lot of TriBeCa was financial industry people because of the ease of getting to work - a lot of bankers and stuff like that," he said. "TriBeCa got hit twice actually. It got hit really hard after 9/11 and then the financial crisis hit and - boom! - it knocked them down again."

 

Swezey said that while the neighborhood is highly desirable to some people, he doesn't get many clients from outside of town who are interested in TriBeCa. The people who are drawn here are drawn to it because it doesn't attract big crowds, for the most part.

 

"You're really not going to find that many tourists walking through TriBeCa," he said. "They're going to go over to SoHo or elsewhere. There's some hot spots ... but it's not Buddakan or Pastis - that's touristy.

 

"Another reason why tourists don't go is because you can walk up and down the street and you don't know you're standing in front of a great bar or club," Swezey added. "There's all sorts of treasures in terms of bars and restaurants. You kind of need to know where you're going, though."

 

A good portion of the residential inventory in TriBeca currently runs in the $1.5-$3 million range, Swezey said.

 

"There's a lot to see and some interesting stuff," he said. "This one has arched windows and this one has a great view. They're large and unique and have cast-iron entrances.

 

"You get the cool factor, too."