Friday, March 6, 2009

Goldfish in the Flowerbox

The Times has a Home & Garden feature on a young family's home in the Flowerbox building on East Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

The feature is titled "A modernist temple."

The photo below includes the caption: "The couple were drawn to the condo's indoor-outdoor feel. A wall of ivy was planted along the interior balcony that overlooks the living area. Directly below the garden is a shallow, 12-foot-long reflecting pool, where goldfish dart just below the surface."



Speaking of this building...in 2007, the triplex penthouse apartment here at 259 E. Seventh St. sold for about $10 million — a neighborhood record.

As the New York Sun reported at the time:

The luxury building, around the corner from Avenue D, is attracting big dollars to a street that most New Yorkers a decade ago would not have considered even for a stroll.

"This is Perry Street, this is 77th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus," the lead broker for Flowerbox, Larry Carty of Warburg Marketing, said. Eight loft units in his building, which started at $1.495 million, sold out in three months. The gigantic Lillian Wald and Jacob Riis housing projects down the block are hardly a liability, according to the broker. "So what? You pay 800 bucks a night at the Maritime Hotel, and you're looking out your window at projects," he said.

"Buyers weren't worried about Avenue D," Mr. Carty said. "If anything, they were saying, ‘Where exactly is that?'"


[Photo: Elizabeth Felicella for The New York Times]

2 comments:

Jill said...

Wow, I guess I haven't walked on this block in a long time because I can't remember seeing that building. I have to admit, it's not a bad looking building and seems to fit in, at least in the photo. I will have to get over there and see for myself if I'm being deceived by good photography.

Anonymous said...

I live a few houses down from this particular building, and a couple months ago, scaffolding went up on the sidewalk in front! I don't know if the contents of the "flowerboxes" were falling on people, or part of the facade was already failing, but it seemed like a curious fact considering the newness of the building. They may have been luxury units, but the workmanship doesn't appear to have been held to the same standards. Go figure!