There's a new face in West Chelsea. Five years after starting construction, the 60-story 3Eleven building is nearly complete.

The 938-unit building is the largest new multi-family project in Manhattan. With rents ranging from $5,100 to $6,700 per month, the residents it's hoping to attract are tech workers employed by nearby Google, Amazon, BlackRock, and L'Oreal. However, because 3Eleven was built using the Affordable Housing New York tax abatement, 25% of its units will be income restricted.

Loaded with amenities

Interest in the building is high, and one-fifth of the completed apartments have already been leased. The studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedroom apartments have large windows with views of the Empire State Building and Hudson River. In addition, residents will enjoy 60,000 square feet of amenity space, including a rooftop outdoor swimming pool, cabanas, multiple dog runs and rooftop decks, workspaces, game rooms, grills that residents can reserve, a large, well-equipped basement gym, and a 42^nd-floor lounge with a kitchen that residents can use.

Construction troubles

Finishing the property was anything but easy. The first challenge for the developer, Douglaston Development, came in 2018 when the property had to be rezoned from manufacturing to residential, a process that took more than two and a half years. But that was hardly the last challenge the developer would face.

Work was well underway when the pandemic shut down the city and the world. Though the construction was eventually allowed to continue, it was made much more difficult by the shutdowns and supply shortages caused by the pandemic. The windows, which were made in Colombia, suddenly became unavailable when the factory closed for Covid. Douglaston persisted and could work with the factory via video tours, and soon the windows were being made again. At another point, Douglaston, worried about the national appliance shortage, bought 15 floors' worth of appliances and stored them in what is now the building's parking garage.

The city's housing crisis is at the front of many people's minds, but with rents as high as 3Eleven's, the building isn't likely to be a solution, though the income-restricted units will certainly be welcomed. It remains to be seen what impact 3Eleven will have on other properties in the area or on similar buildings competing for the same well-heeled tenants.

If you have questions about New York City real estate, attorney Melvin Monachan's experienced team can help. Call us at (347) 389-1682 or contact us online.