On the heels of the garage-to-condo conversion trend we, and many others, have been focusing on of late, we took a look inside of the sales office of 12 East 13th Street, the eight-story garage conversion with four-story glass topper that's coming to 13th Street between Fifth Avenue and University Place. Nancy Ruddy, one half of the indomitable architecture and design duo CetraRuddy who are responsible for the transformation, gave us a walk-through of the building's sales office, during which she explained why the space is ripe for a condo conversion. With 67-feet of frontage along the southern side of 13th Street, CetraRuddy has chosen to take advantage of the structure's sprawl by laying the building's eight units out across the width of the building, rather than using its depth. The sheer size of the units are "what people love about SoHo and Tribeca homes," says Ruddy, but are yet a-typical to the Greenwich Village location.
The apartments are built for people to move right into, expresses Ruddy, rather than buy and tear out, as is common in new development. "It's amazing to work with a developer so committed to quality," the interior designer said of DHA Capital and Continental Properties. The finished product at 12 East 13th Street will possess niceties from custom patterned honed-stone flooring to its widely-touted automated parking system, for which the occupants will pay: the five of the building's eight units that are on the market are asking between $7.5 million for a three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom home to $30.5 million for the show-stopping, glassed triplex four-bedroom home with four full bathrooms and two half bathrooms.
Attempting to memorialize the site's Village location and the building's past use as an industrial structure played a large role in many of the duo's design choices. The building's paneled entryway foyer features a sculpted bronze reception desk which Ruddy refers to as an art piece as much as a functioning hub, above which hangs an original Tom Dixon pendant light fixture that will cast different patterns of light over the reception area and its paneled walnut ceiling throughout the day. "The Village is about art," Ruddy said, and she aimed for the building's entryway to reflect that. Similarly, Ruddy made the choice to leave the building's structural beams uncovered throughout the units, harkening back to its prior industrial use.
CetraRuddy didn't look beyond how the homes' very open lay out might be troubling for some who prefer partitions. Every unit comes with shoji-like screens of fabricated glass and metal which operate on sliding partitions between the homes' living areas, and can be retracted when not in-use. While the apartments are certainly large, ranging from 2,800 square feet to 5,600 square feet, the building has been laid out so that each area feels like its own space.
Perhaps the most talked-about feature of the building is its automated parking system. Each unit is sold with one spot in the second-floor garage. A series of panels and lifts moves the at-rest car through the building as occupants enter the lobby through a private door (a beneficial feature for celebrities, a bystander noted). Retrieving the car is as simple as placing a request for it via smartphone.
· 12 East 13th Street [official]
· All 12 East 13th Street coverage [Curbed]
· All CetraRuddy coverage [Curbed]
· Show Us Your Sales Office archive [Curbed]
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