Related enters Chelsea market after zoning change

Real Estate Weekly, Dec 20, 2000

Stephen Ross' Related Cos. has bought a Chelsea development site where it is embarking on its first ground-up construction project in the hip neighborhood.

Related paid $15.4 million, or $77 per developable square foot, for the blockfront on the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 19th and West 20th Streets. It is building 253 rental apartments there and expects to complete the job in second-quarter 2002. Robert Stern, dean of Yale University's architecture school, is the designer of the project, which will use the address 180 W. 20th St.

The seller was the Brick family, which amassed around a dozen New York City properties in the 1920s after its arrival from Russia. With this transaction, it disposed of its last location.

The site was zoned for a 200,000. SF building but air rights that Related purchased allow it to construct a 270,000 SF property. The location is a so-called 80/20 project, meaning that 80 percent of the units will rent at market rate while 20% will go for less so that low-income families can afford them.

Crain's New York Business