Despite tough market, condos thrive

Amid a slew of struggling housing developments in New York City, the Kalahari, a luxury condo development on West 116th Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues, is going green in more ways than one.

Despite the poor economy and housing market, all but 20 condo units of the Kalahari’s total 248 have been sold. Residents and management alike attributed this success to a strategic marketing plan, a progressive “green” design, and the community benefits the building offers.

The Kalahari’s developers, Full Spectrum Building & Development and L&M Equity Participants, constructed the property in accordance with the “silver” rating standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, which was created by the U.S. Green Building Council Board. The Kalahari’s design follows the “indigenous motif of Sub-Saharan Africa and its people,” according to its Web site.

“We have a filtered air system so you don’t need to open your window,” Julia Lynch Siegel, project manager of sustainability for Full Spectrum, said. “This is especially important in this neighborhood because of the high asthma rate.”

The building also includes locally produced granite, bamboo flooring, Energy Star lighting and appliances, rooftop solar panels, recycled glass tiles in the kitchens, water-saving fixtures in the showers, faucets, dishwashers, and three on-site hybrid Zipcars. “We want to be sustainable not only to the people that live there, but the people living around there, and continue to expand outward,” Lynch Siegel said.

In addition, the building provides mixed-income housing. Of its 248 condos, 120 are adjusted to cost 30 percent or less of a resident’s income if that resident makes between 90 and 150 percent of the area’s median income. The Kalahari is part of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Section 421a Program, which offers a property tax exemption for buildings that provide affordable housing.

The Kalahari is under a 25-year contract with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and unlike many fixed-rate apartment buildings in the area with expiring contracts, it is not at a risk of losing its affordable housing status.

“After we sell all of the units, we no longer make money off of them,” Lynch Siegel said, explaining the building’s participation in the program. “We got the land from the city at a much reduced price.”

The Halstead Management Company began working with the Kalahari in November in an aggressive marketing campaign, to which the building can attribute much of its recent financial success.

“We’ve given a new face to its marketing,” Stephen Kliegerman, executive director of development marketing at Halstead, said. “A lot of the developers are holding some of their marketing reserves and more aggressive marketing efforts until the buildings are more complete, so buyers can touch and feel. Most buyers today aren’t looking to speculate.”

Most residents praised the unique development.

“This building is incredibly diverse,” Joanie Siegel, a resident since November, said. “It’s financially and ethnically diverse. Tenants are Jewish, non-Jewish, Latino, Asian, white, black, and part of interracial families. It’s a good reflection of the melting pot of New York City.”

“My condo is a bargain by New York prices,” Lewis J. Stadlin, a resident since July, said. “Everyone should have the opportunity to live in a place like this.”

“Any time there are incentives to make housing accommodations affordable, we support that,” noted W. Franc Perry, chair of Community Board 10.

Michael Buckley, director of Columbia’s Real Estate Development Program, said he hopes that the Kalahari can act as a paradigm for city development in the new “green” age.
“We want to see more of this happen and see more of this in New York City,” Buckley said.