Prime Rok Real Estate and Greystone Development purchased the eight-story, Beaux-Arts building at 164 West 74th Street for $26.8 million in February from drug and alcohol rehab nonprofit Phoenix House. Now, the two companies are converting the building, between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, into condos.
The front of the building features elaborate crests above the windows and marble, Ionic columns framing the doorway, and the developers plan to restore it and keep it exactly the same. The Landmarks Preservation Commission will have to approve their plan for the front of the building, but they hope to dramatically transform the rear facade, which can be changed without permission from the full commission. PR reps for the development team have sent along an initial sketch of the back of the building, which will be pulled back about 30 feet and reconstructed into a chevron shape.
The design, from architect Barry Rice, is inspired by the turn-of-the-century facade and ornate Upper West Side residential buildings like the Ansonia and the Apthorp. The condo plan doesn’t have approval from the attorney general’s office yet, but the builders hope to carve out 14 apartments, with duplex penthouses on the seventh and eighth floors. Non-penthouse units will likely be priced at under $5 million, according to Jill Preschel at Greystone, but the duplexes will probably be more.
Several units will have private outdoor space, with Juliet balconies for apartments on the upper floors and a private backyard for two ground-floor units. Part of the newly created backyard will also be shared by the other residents.
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Thanks for your confused sketch, hard to image but I try to think about the building.