“I’ll have Johnny Walker… Blue Label”

New Yorkers have always been a couple of notches above the average consumer. Their desire for the best is apparent in all the aspects of day-to-day life in the big apple, and more recently, in the real estate market. David Rockwell, Andy Pepper, Phillipe Starck, Richard Meier, Deborah Berke, Costas Kondylis, Bruce Fowle and Ismael Leyva, to name a few, have revolutionized how Mr. and Mrs. Jones feel when they enter their designer homes at the end of a busy day. What’s in a name? The arguments both for and against are compelling, and we will make no attempt to address the matter here, other than to say that there is indeed something that we associate with these “designer” names, which continues to drive the buzz and hype around these starchitecturally designed buildings, more so than their no name counterparts.

Authored by Matthew Knee (Guest Author)

"I have a blue house with a blue window...I'm blue (da ba dee)"

The Lower East Side's Blue Condo sticks out like a sore thumb. It would seem more appropriate along the water on the West Side, across from Chelsea Pier and adjacent to the Nouvel Chelsea new development. Nonetheless, it makes it's mark on the Lower East Side's skyline and could be an indication of what's to come for this slow-to-modernize neighborhood. The average unit in the Blue Condo sells for $1,200 to $1,300 per square foot, a lofty sum for the neighborhood, but in tandem with the rest of the city.

There's no doubt about it, when friends and family visit for the first time, it'll elicit a, "Wow." The question is, will it be a good "wow!" ("Very cool!") or a bad "wow" ("You live in that thing?")? For more information, visit http://www.bluecondonyc.com.

The most innovative new development EVER...

I can't say it better myself, so here is an excerpt from the Web site:

100 Eleventh Avenue is a "vision machine," with every angle and structural detail designed to create visual excitement. Approximately 1,650 different windowpanes comprise the most highly engineered and complex curtain wall ever constructed in New York City.

Every apartment will feature floor-to-ceiling window walls including operable windows oriented to the south and west. Along these window walls, floors will be finished with an extra layer of nearly imperceptible transparent gloss, to boost incoming sunlight into rooms.

Sun-lovers rejoice! Your new address awaits on the West side. Not to mention, it's LEED Green certified, so you're doing the environment justice.

For more information about this astonishing new development, visit http://www.nouvelchelsea.com.

"People who live in glass houses, shouldn't walk around naked..."

When world-famous architect, Philip Johnson, built his New Canaan Connecticut home in 1949, he was light years ahead of his time. The Glass House, as it was called, was a turning point in American architecture - a house built with a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall glass exterior. Nearly 60 years later, that vision is commonplace here in New York City and all over the world, as vertical versions of Johnson's glass house stretch toward the sky. Some New York examples include Richard Meier's Perry Street towers, which give the illusion of floating on the Hudson; Gwathmey Siegel's Astor Place condos, with it's curved glass facade; and Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Herzog & deMeuron. The only drawback for these see-thru gems is that squeegee's are not included.

Authored by Matthew Knee (Guest Author)