555 West 23rd Street

Rank #18
Cost: $120 million

The revival of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood has been underway for years, with historic industrial and mercantile buildings taking on a new life as the home for art galleries and high-end residential developments. The addition of 555 West 23rd St. is right in line with the neighborhood chic.

The project will add 337 luxury apartments to the ritzy neighborhood upon its completion in April 2005. That's the vision of Douglaston Development, owned by Jeffrey Levine, and the project's architect, Stephen Jacobs. His New York-based firm, the Stephen B. Jacobs Group, has won AIA-NY Housing Design Awards on several occasions for its multi-family housing projects.

Levine's construction arm, Levine Builders, is general contractor on the job, which began in August 2003. Among other project Levine has handled in recent years are the Aurora on West 57th Street, a 30-story reinforced concrete residential condominium, and the Cameo, a 7-story apartment structure in the Clinton neighborhood, also on the West Side of Manhattan.

The development, situated between 10th and 11th avenues, will feature 14 floors on the West 23rd Street side and 12 floors on the West 24th Street end, with retail shops at street level on both. It will feature studio and one- and two-bedroom layouts that have high-end amenities, including designer kitchens with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, marble bathrooms, oversized windows, and washer and dryer units in each apartment.

Jacobs's design borrows its inspiration from the area's historic mercantile buildings, especially in its brick façade exterior. The structure's oversized windows and warehouse-style exterior further accent the connection to the neighborhood and its history of industrial commerce. The building will use both concrete and steel in the superstructure.

Jacobs also designed a soaring glass atrium that will lead residents to 4,500 sq. ft. of building amenities. Those features will include a lounge area, a fitness rooms, and a large landscaped courtyard for residents to enjoy.

Other amenities include a parking garage within the building, to which residents will have priority access. The building will have 24-hour doorman service, and it will also feature wireless Internet network access throughout the space.

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is financing the project.

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