It is a poorly kept secret that many Manhattanites own cars — even in a city that prides itself on a plethora of transit choices. The developer of 200 Eleventh Avenue condominiums at the western edge of Chelsea, where art galleries and apartment buildings have replaced light industry, knew this. But he did not just build underground parking in his new residential project; he created New York City’s first apartment tower with a high-rise car elevator and private garages. “We wanted a building that would stand out in concept and architecture,” says Young Woo, the developer whose eponymous firm put together the $41 million real estate deal with Urban Muse Management. Woo had seen automated high-rise parking being used in Japan and Korea and was certain that even in a city of pedestrians it would give his apartments a certain edge.
After interviewing a handful of architects, Woo enlisted Annabelle Selldorf to design the 19-story tower with a manageable density of 16 apartments, 14 of which are served by his trademarked sky-garage system. In integrating the car into the tower, Selldorf has residents enter a driveway on Eleventh Avenue, pull up to the car elevator on the tower’s east side, then ascend to the garages adjoining the individual apartments. (Passenger elevators and a stairwell buffer the garages from the apartments’ front doors.)
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