A Second Home in Manhattan

A pied-à-terre revival is under way at some of New York's most historic hotels.

By Jim Brosseau

When talk turns to second homes, it often centers on locales in the Sun Belt and, increasingly, on mountain and beach resorts that have expanded their residential offerings. But other coveted markets for buyers of sec-ond (or third or fourth) homes are major urban areas in the United States—particularly New York. By one estimate, 60 percent of Manhattan's luxury sales are to purchasers who already have one or more residences.

One of the forces driving big-city-home buying is the availability of apartments that offer all the attentive services of great hotels. Why put in place a caretaker, a visitor reasons, for a home I might use only a few times a year? And even if Manhattan's hotel apartments are of a modest size (the new ones at the St. Regis will include some junior suites), it's hard to beat daily maid service and a concierge who can secure tickets to that must-see Broadway show. "For the out-of-towner, New York has always been less about square footage than about service," contends Kirk Henckels, an executive vice president at Stribling, a luxury real estate firm.

The marriage of apartment living to indulgent hotel-style service and topflight security has long been available at several of New York's venerable properties. These include the Sherry-Netherland and the Pierre, on Fifth Avenue; the Waldorf-Astoria, with its Towers, at Fiftieth Street and Park Avenue; and the elegant Carlyle, on Madison Avenue, with its discreet entrance on Seventy-sixth Street.

And more of these apartments are to come: in addition to the St. Regis, residential conversions are under way at the Stanhope, the Gramercy Park and the Plaza. Many new hotels, notably the eighty-story Mandarin Oriental, New York, with its soaring Residences, in the new Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, are lending their own measure of luxury to the home-away-from-home marketplace (see "Checkout Time").

The St. Regis was once home to, among others, Babe Paley and Salvador Dalí, so in a way the hotel is returning to its past with its current multimillion-dollar renovation of onetime guest rooms. When it's completed, this fall, three floors will have been transformed into thirty-three condominiums. The design firm Sills Huniford, whose clients have included Vera Wang, has given the apartments a color scheme of either blue or yellow.

Why the buying frenzy right now? For overseas purchasers, the weakened dollar makes Manhattan a deal. And then there is America's plentiful present generation of empty nesters, restless and eager to take part in the cultural life of one of the world's most dynamic cities. And the New York they are buying into has less crime than before and is the cleanest it has been in decades.

Another selling point of hotel apartments is that they're almost always condominium, as opposed to cooperative, dwellings. Out-of-towners, particularly those outside the United States, aren't used to the notoriously invasive—and, some say, capricious—ways of New York co-op boards. A resident of Washington State who recently purchased a six-room Manhattan co-op marveled at the depth of the board's inquiry: "They wanted to know everything."

The Stanhope, however, will buck the trend and become a co-op. As such it won't offer hotel-style amenities, but those in charge of renovating the 1926 Rosario Candela–designed hotel won't skimp on elegance. The hotel's apartments are expected to be among the largest of those in the city's current crop of hotel-conversion projects, and they will boast a number of Central Park vistas. "Per square foot, nothing can touch direct Central Park views," says Corcoran Group senior vice president Sharon E. Baum, who will handle sales for the Stanhope.

Park views will be plentiful when the Plaza hotel, at Central Park South, reopens, with some 180 condominiums—from studios to four-plus-bedrooms—along with 350 guest rooms. To the relief of longtime patrons, the Plaza's ambitious renovation will preserve its famed Palm Court and Oak Room.

Farther downtown, on New York's exclusive Gramercy Park, hotel impresario Ian Schrager is giving the Gramercy Park Hotel a makeover. Marking Schrager's first residential foray, 50 Gramercy Park North, a building adjacent to the hotel, will showcase twenty-three John Pawson–designed condominiums with views of the tranquil park and its groomed gardens. Each owner will receive one of the neighborhood's best perks: a key to the only private park in New York City.

Bill Coate, who in 2001 bought a home at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park, is sold on the convenience of apartment living in a hotel setting. "If I'm entertaining six clients, I can just call and say, 'Have the heavy hors d'oeuvres and Champagne ready,'" says the president of the photo and illustrator agency PMI. "It's like having an entire staff that aren't really yours, but they're always there when you need them."

CHECKOUT TIME

Here is a sample of what was on offer in Manhattan's hot hotel-apartment market at press time.

THE RESIDENCES AT MANDARIN ORIENTAL, NEW YORK

A half-floor penthouse (approximately 4,800 square feet) on the seventy-seventh floor has three bedrooms (his and hers spaces in the master suite), a living room, a formal dining room, a chef's kitchen and a breakfast room. The pièce de résistance: the remarkable views to the east, west and south. A separate chauffeur's lounge allows private entry and exit from the building. Owners can use the hotel's pool and fitness center. $16.95 million. 80 Columbus Circle. 212-823-9300.

ST. REGIS RESIDENCES

A one-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment has crystal chandeliers and a marble bath with double sinks. Purchasers can put their apartments into the hotel's rental program. Residents have access to St. Regis amenities, including its attentive butler service. (Note: There is a long waiting list of potential buyers.) Approximately $4.6 million. 2 E. 55th St. The Sunshine Group, 212-350-7137 .

THE RITZ-CARLTON NEW YORK

A 3,895-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment on the twenty-fourth floor contains three and a half baths, a formal dining room and a library. The living room has Central Park views. This is the smallest and least expensive of the twelve condominiums at this address. Residents enter through a private lobby and have access to such hotel services as in-room spa treatments. $10 million. 50 Central Park South. Matthew Hall at Millennium Partners, 212-521-6110 .

THE CARLYLE

A 2,400-square-foot, nineteenth-floor apartment features an enclosed wraparound terrace, a Central Park view, two bedrooms, a maid's room, three full baths, a fireplace, a living room and a library. The late Mark Hampton designed the interiors (the apartment can be bought furnished). $4,995,000. 35 E. 76th St. Sharon O'Brien at Douglas Elliman, 212-727-6142 .

For information on the other apartment-hotel conversions mentioned in this story, contact the following .

50 Gramercy Park North The Sunshine Group, 212-475-8500.

The Plaza Rosita Sarnoff at Stribling, 212-585-4542.

The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park Anita J. Wood at Sotheby's International Realty, 917-334-2601 .

The Stanhope Sharon E. Baum or Deborah Grubman at the Corcoran Group, 212-836-1036 .