When we left Westbeth, the Richard Meier-designed artist housing complex in the far West Village, after our recent tour, our biggest question was: how do we get in on this deal? If Wikipedia is to be believed, we can't, because the building's residential waiting list closed in 2007. But we can live vicariously, and jealously, through the current tenants, whose rent details are revealed this week in New York Magazine. Westbeth studios rent for $650/month, 1BRs for about $800/month, 2BRs for $950/month, and 3BRs for $1,100. (More successful residents have to pay slightly higher rents.) To get in, prospective residents need to be working artists with three references.
Sound utopian? It might be more so if the building weren't falling down. The low rents mean there are no funds for fixing the plumbing or the roof. And even those low rents might not be low for much longer, because when the complex pays off its mortgage next June, it might have to enter rent stabilization. Rents would rise under stabilization, and it might become harder to maintain the complex's artists-only makeup. Fair enough, but we're still jealous.
· Is the West Village Artist Residence Westbeth a Success or a Relic?
· How the Artsy Half Lives in Richard Meier's Westbeth Complex [Curbed]
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