Hudson Square building by Robert A.M. Stern and Related debuts rentals from $3,695/month

Robert A.M. Stern Architects usually evoke images of über-pricey, limestone-clad condos like 15 Central Park West, 30 Park Place, or the soon-to-rise celebrity-magnet 70 Vestry. In Hudson Square however, the firm has created something more “attainable” so to speak—a new rental building catering to the area’s young techie and media crowd.

261 Hudson Street, a 12-story building located between Broome and Spring Streets on Hudson Street, is set to welcome its first group of tenants on April 15. Early this morning, leasing officially got underway at this Related-developed project. Twenty apartments have already been leased prior to the official launch, Chris Schmidt, the vice president of leasing at Related Companies told Curbed.

Just as the developers were putting the finishing touches to their product, Curbed had a chance to tour three units at this soon-to-open development. The red-and-gray brick-clad rental contains a total of 160 apartments that come in studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom variants, and we had a chance to explore model units in each category—all located on the ninth floor of the building.

Despite the otherwise uniform design of the building, RAMSA has been able to create 45 different layout styles among the 160 apartments. And regardless of the size of the units here, they all come with the same finishes.

The rentals here come fitted with SoHo oak wood floors, gray-stained white oak cabinetry in the kitchen, Bosch refrigerators and dishwashers, Carrara marble backsplashes, and each of the apartments also come with a washer & dryer in-unit. Some of the apartments here also come with terraces.

At a Robert A.M. Stern building, “attainable” doesn’t come cheap, with studios here starting at $3,695 per month, one-bedrooms at $4,750 per month, and $7,595 per month for a two-bedroom home. Some of the two-bedrooms here come with a home office/den area that could be easily be used as a third bedroom, Schmidt told Curbed.

There were however 41 affordable apartments that were offered up in a housing lottery last summer. Rents started at $788 per month for studios, $847 per month for a one-bedrooms, and $1,025 per month for two-bedrooms.

Among the currently available market-rate units, prices range from $3,860 per month for an alcove studio on the fourth floor and go up to $11,625 per month for one of the larger two-bedrooms that come with the home office/den space, located on the 11th floor. Here’s a sampling of some of the floorplans.

Though data specific to Hudson Square isn’t available, the median rent on all types of units in Soho is currently at $2,500 per month, according to Trulia.

Amenities too are clearly befitting of a RAMSA-designed building with a fitness center courtesy Equinox (for residents only), a study and internet lounge with a fireplace, and a private interior courtyard with a garden (HMWhite designed the latter)—all the amenities are spread out over a two-level space right off the lobby of the building. HMWhite also designed the roof terrace at the rental, and this space features “custom-made chaise lounges and seating from Barcelona.”

With just a couple of weeks left till the first group of residents move in, the developers are now racing to put the finishing touches on the amenity spaces, the lobby, and terrace. Related’s project will be the first to the finish line among several high-profile projects now at various stages of development in the neighborhood. Among them are Extell’s 22-story 70 Charlton, a 27-story building at 110 Charlton, and a dual-tower project being developed by Toll Brothers.

Related’s Hudson Street rental was first announced nearly three years ago, and the ground-up construction project has moved forward pretty steadily since construction got underway in June 2014.

“As one of the only full-service, amenity-rich rental buildings in the neighborhood, 261 Hudson offers residents a truly unique way to live the downtown lifestyle,” Schmidt said in a statement.

• Here's 261 Hudson, the New Tribeca Rentals from Related [Curbed]
• Hudson Square Coverage [Curbed]