Horn: High demand for luxury loft-style living.

While the 1990's were marked by large and often high-profile residential towers, the 2000's are shaping up to be the decade for intimate buildings of expansive loft-style residences in Manhattan. Why? The industry paid attention to the ever-increasing number of buyers who, in their quest for larger city homes, were buying adjacent apartments and combining them into one.

Now we are delivering to the public what the buyers have been wanting, namely spacious loft-style residences with the finishes, amenities and services of "uptown" apartments. Loft living has now become more mainstream housing for those buyers who do not want "cookie-cutter" homes.

Whatever the lessons or the reasons, the reality is that we are seeing a strong demand for loft-style apartments in the five residential developments, which Alchemy has completed and in the four loft developments that Alchemy is currently developing and marketing.

For example, at The Keystone Building in Tribeca, we have sold all but one of the 24 loft residences. This near sell-out is made all the more remarkable due to the fact that our construction and marketing efforts were interrupted by the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and is located only four blocks from the World Trade Center site. However the Keystone bounced back by selling 25% of its units at higher prices than pre-9/11 sales.

We believe that there is a pent-up demand for spacious and well-finished homes. The Keystone's loft residences are as large as 2,815 SF with ceiling heights of up to 11 feet and abundant light and air. Each of three penthouse homes come with over 1,000 SF of exterior space.

Over at 57 Bond St., which is a new-construction development with 10 light-filled loft-style residences located in the emerging neighborhood of NoHo, we have already sold three residences in the first week of marketing.

We attribute this market interest to the combination of fine finishes and expansive floor plans. When completed in summer 2003, the lofts will feature 11-foot ceilings, marble and stone bathrooms, high-grade maple floors and living rooms with oversized floor-to-ceiling glass window-walls. Poggenpohl kitchens will boast stainless steel appliances by SubZero, Bosch and Viking. In addition, the two penthouse residences will offer special features such as wood-burning fireplaces and private rooftop terraces with private outdoor hot tubs and outdoor showers. Meltzer/Mandl's contemporary design for the six-story, corner building adds light and views to the mix. Pricing is from $1.335 million to $1.97 million for lofts, which range in size from 1,470 to 2,512 SF.

While one might expect loft residences to be popular in the Downtown market where loft living began, we have found that interest for loft-style homes is also strong in Midtown.

We are in the process of converting an elegant, 1890's Beaux-Arts building in the heart of Gramercy Park into loft condominium apartments. The loft residences will feature classical loft details, expansive living rooms with oversized windows and original columns, souring ceilings of 10 to 13 feet and first-grade maple floors. The building will be priced from $807,000 to $2.225 million and range in size from 1,469 to 2,735 SF. To date 16 of the 23 residential units have been sold in a little over three months of marketing.

Because we expect the demand for large, loft-style residences in private buildings to continue, we are building a new ground-up loft condominium building on 22nd Street in Chelsea. This building will feature 12 full-floor units ranging from 1,600 to 2,600 SF in size. We firmly believe in the idea of affordable, loft-type housing and will continue to seek new opportunities throughout New York City in a very specialized niche.