Manhattan apt. projects getting off the ground.

Several Manhattan residential apartment projects that have been on the drawing boards, for many years in some cases, are about to break ground. Some of these buildings were held up by a lack of financing but are now chugging along after picking their way through the creative lending environment. Most of the buildings are using the 80/20 program by which 80 percent of the apartments will be market rents and the other 20 percent will be affordable housing based on median area incomes.

Heather Hatfield, acting president of the Building Congress, noted the bulk of the work is still interior renovation. "There is a market for apartments," she said. "The credit crunch seems to be easing enough so that these guys can get something going but there's really nothing on the commercial side."

The success of the Related Companies' Monterey at 96th Street over the summer of 1992 also proved that apartments can be rented in a less than otherwise desirable location if views, transportation and amenities are present.

While Related is in the process of beginning another tower on 84th Street on the East Side, other developers are also ready to put shovel to the soil.

The Glenwood Management Company expects to break ground on a 36--story apartment tower at 1775 York Avenue and 92nd Street in the next few weeks using the 80/20 program. According to Gary Jacob, vice president, they needed credit enhancement for bonds that would be issued to finance the project and are obtaining this though letters of credit from three commercial banks.

Costas Kondylis has designed the building that will include a health club and pool and top of the line finishes, said Jacob. "It will have spectacular views that will never be blocked," he noted.

Manhattan West, a 1,000-unit two--building project along West End Avenue running from 61st to 64th Street is being developed by Daniel Brodsky. They have already hired Lehrer McGovern Bovis as construction manager. It's financing is being obtained through a New York City Housing Development Corporation bond issue with FHA mortgage insurance as a credit enhancement and Brodsky hopes to break ground by the end of the year. Brodsky also complained about the years of effort needed to obtain money to build this project.

The two buildings are designed to fit into the West Side architecture. One of the buildings is 18 stories while the other is an L-shaped structure that goes from 23 stories at one end to two 38-story towers at the other, similar to those along Central Park West.

The triangularly shaped site will also feature a one-acre public park. A new street will cut through to meet with Freedom Place, that will also border Riverside South.

Andrew Weiss, executive vice president of the Trump Organization noted they are pushing the paperwork to obtain approvals for four 80/20 buildings. They are working with architects Philip Johnson and Costas Kondylis and have isolated a portion of project.

The four buildings range in height from 18 to 40 stories and run from 65th to 69th Street. "We are looking toward various sources of financing," he noted, using the 80/20 program with FHA mortgage insurance and either HDBK or New York State HFA bonding. "We anticipate having it in eight to ten months from now."

Weiss said he hasn't seen a significant change in obtaining financing from conventional sources. "It's still pretty dry."

Also on the West Side, Millennium Partners is about a year away from completing the Lincoln Square 545-foot mixed-use tower that will include movie theaters and other retail uses along with apartments. A block down Broadway, in what neighborhood wags are referring to as Lincoln Triangle, the builders have applied for a 30-story tower that may use some 421a credits, as they did with Lincoln Square.

The building will have high architectural qualities, said a spokesperson, including curtain wall construction and is being designed in the tradition of the Flatiron Building. The bottom two floors will have retail uses.

"The project is caught in the insanity of the Lincoln Square rezoning," said one area real estate expert. When Lincoln Square was proposed, West Siders discovered they could do nothing to object to this as-of-right tower and therefore began efforts to rezone the entire area.

The triangle project at 1960 Broadway is now trying to obtain a Building Dept. permit before such zoning changes are made by the Planning Commission. These will be discussed at a public hearing on Nov. 17 but are not yet scheduled for a vote. On Nov. 9, the Building Dept. made "objections" to the current building plans, a normal occurrence in the course of obtaining final approval.

Said Building Dept. spokesperson Vahe Tiryakian of the spate of construction, "When you get those highrises, it's always a hopeful sign." There haven't been significant new high-rises except for the one at Lincoln Square in the last few years, he noted. "We're used to monitoring dozens of these at a time," he said, recalling the 1980's when at any given time, 65 to 70 buildings were going up. "I'm not sure yet it's a trend but home building is going up on Staten Island, too. They're panting to be able to say it's moving out of the recession."