42-48 East 20th Street
New York, New York
Gramercy Park is an exclusive area around 20th Street and Irving Place. The park is open only to Gramercy Park residents. In the rest of the area, pre and post war buildings are intermingled with regularity. The population blend is young people and families. Gramercy Park is the only surviving private park in New York City. It was developed by Samuel Ruggles who bought this land in 1831 from one-time mayor James Duane. Ruggles drained the marshy site and, adopting a real estate technique used in British (and French) speculative housing projects, laid out 66 building lots around a central park. This pattern of development enabled Ruggles to sell lots on the premise that homeowners would have access to a private park--an exclusive privilege which still draws residents to this location today. The first brick row houses were designed and built by A. J. Davis in the 1840s-50s during the heyday of brownstone construction, and occupied by important professionals and politicians. In the late 19th and 20th centuries the area has been home to performing and visual artists. In 1966 the park and surrounding blocks were designated an historic district.
The Gramercy Park and Park Avenue South areas are home to some of the finest and most famous restaurants in the City including the following:
Neighborhood Profiles
Gramercy Park and Union Square
By Allen Salkin
What was once a Dunkin' Donuts at 220 Park Avenue South is now Gavin Citron's trËs fabu Aleutia, where birchwood-smoked venison loin with pistachio ragout is served up for $32 a plate. That's the way things have gone everywhere around Gramercy Park and Union Square in recent years. From the soaring One Union Square Southówith its impossible-to-read steaming clock, its Virgin Megastore, and its pricey rentals, to Gramercy Park, where Richard Tyler's house recently sold for $16.5 million, this once-forgotten area perfectly situated between downtown and uptown has been remembered in a big way.
STREET LIFE: Community Board 5 chairman Kyle Merker warns that some of the charm that helped attract interest in the Union Square area has been paved over. "Mom's Cigars is gone. Eureka Joe's Coffee is gone," Merker says. "The rents have gone out of control. Landlords are not renewing leases, with the hopes of getting those higher rents."
CREATURE COMFORTS: The opening of Barnes & Noble on East 17th Street in November 1995 signaled the start of a major retail-improvement boom. The apparently endless renovation of the subway station and Union Square Park is almost complete. And the farmer's market has flourished, bringing huge, crisp apples, fresh greens, and all sorts of other produce to grateful hordes.
WHAT'S NEW: At 136 East 19th Street (on the stretch off the park called "Block Beautiful"), a brownstone was converted to six high-end condos (BY ALCHEMY PROPERTIES), a small but typical project. On a grander scale, One Union Square South brought 154 prime rental units, and fourteen stadium-seating movie screens, to the 'hood. On 14th Street, NYU has built new dormitory towers where the Palladium disco once was, bringing thousands of college kids.
PROGNOSIS: It's hard to imagine how any neighborhood can support what seems like three new sushi restaurants a block, but places with unique raw-fish stylings like Sushi Samba are busy. The only direction possible for residential growth is east along 14th Street and a few pockets between First and Second Avenues. Expect it. And say farewell to the funky downmarket stores on Park Avenue South. Like Dunkin' Donuts, they'll vanish as their leases expire.
SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOODS: 14th Union Square at 14th
and Broadway is a centuries old New York City landmark. The area has been under extensive renovation, scheduled for completion soon. This revitalization has sparked strong retail
growth just around the Square. Barnes & Noble, Toy's 'R Us, Bradlee's (a lower priced department store), and HMV are now some of the Square's main merchants. A movie screen movie complex recently opened
just off the Square. The photo of the houses on East 16th typifies the styles you will see in the area. Union Square is also home to the city's largest greenmarket that is held on Wednesdays and Saturdays,
rain or shine. The large apartment complex is Zeckendorf Towers that has numerous medical offices in the complex, as well. An enormous A & P Supermarket is on the ground floor of the tower.
Union Square also has about ten small live performance theatres and several nice restaurants. Union Square CafÈ right on the Square is a highly regarded restaurant and a good place to sit outside and watch the multitudes stroll by on weekends.
Fifth Avenue between 14th and about 20th Streets has been a hot section for retailers over the last ten years.
Numerous European clothing chains have found home there. The city's largest Barnes & Noble is at 18th and Fifth. At 14th
and First Avenue is a large housing complex built just after World War II for returning veterans. Stuyvesant Town is under the direction of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and the rents are
extremely affordable. Unfortunately, the waiting list for an apartment is approximately three years. Next to it is Peter Cooper Village which is a similar, more expensive complex. Three hospitals are on First Avenue opposite Stuyvesant Town. The East 23rd to 34th Street section begins the transition from mostly residential to predominantly commercial. The Flatiron Building is a triangular shaped building at Fifth and 23rd
Street. Built in the early 1900's, it was the first so-called skyscraper in New York City. Not a very pretty building today, the surrounding Flatiron District has been named after it.
Just across from the Flatiron Building is Madison Square Park that is an open plaza area and not where you would want to picnic. The area surrounding the park has the Toy Building (200 Fifth) and the giftware
buildings (225 Fifth, 230 Fifth, and 41 Madison). These buildings are the buying places for retailers looking for the latest in these product lines.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has its headquarters on the park and the building tower is a landmark for the area. A commercial real estate note. Met Life sold its adjoining building at 11 Madison
Avenue to Credit Suisse First Boston. The arrival of that noted financial firm has drawn the attention of many firms to the area. If the real estate market continues to boom here, this area could attract a lot more
corporate clients and change the neighborhood composition dramatically. To accommodate this expected influx, a new rental apartment complex was recently completed at Madison Avenue and 29th Street.
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The complete offering terms are in an offering plan available from the Sponsor. File No. CD02-0122. All dimensions and illustrations described on this site are approximate - please consult the offering plan for more detail.
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