It's raining downtown this morning, so let's turn our attention to the land above 96th Street—a place where, if our intelligence is correct, the sun is shining and the real estate market remains stuck in fifth gear. A Curbed correspondent writes, "Across the street from each other, and down the block from the horrible Walden, we have two new 'luxury' condominimum developments going up. So easy to confuse, they glower at each other from opposite side of Lenox Avenue (a.k.a. "Malcom X" if you are not a real estate developer) at 130th Street. They even have same name, almost: The Lenox (above left) and the Lenox Grand (above right). So hard to chose. Where to spend my $650 per square foot?"
A Curbed crib sheet for telling the Lenox from the Lenox Grand:
The Lenox: 77 "luxury" residences, 12 stories, new construction, prices not yet set, completion in June 2006. Chirpy neighborhood quote: "Harlem is the new housing frontier." X-Factor: Slowest loading development website we've ever visited, but we dig the austere catch phrase: "A condominium."
The Lenox Grand: New construction, prices likely to be from $800,000, completion by spring 2006. Chirpy neighborhood quote: "The foremost up-and-coming neighborhood in NYC." X-Factor: Cool roll-over effect on rendering photo shows building under construction.
Bottom Line: From where we sit, The Lenox looks grander than The Lenox Grand. Damn the paradox.
· The Lenox [thelenoxnyc.com]
· The Lenox Grand [lenoxgrand.com]