West 22nd Street: the next Soho?

On an overlooked block on the edge of Chelsea, as far west as you can go with-the our hitting the West Side Highway, a transformation is underway.

Cross Tent Avenue going west and enjoy for a moment the welcoming shade from the Con Rail overpass. Looking down 22nd Street, the sunshine lights up construction workers dangling from scaffolding as trucks wait to haul away dusty debris being thrown from gaping openings along the red brick corridor.

While a good portion of the south side of the block is still occupied by cable company, taxi and auto repair garage, building after building is being spruced up to accommodate an expanded interest by galleries, as well as artists fleeing higher prices in Soho.

Two museums are already in place and a vacant warehouse purchased at a lively auction will be renovated for use by art-related tenants. Even the refurbishment of an old warehouse into a 50-bed $2.1 million AIDS hospice mid-way down the block is being welcomed by the community, which has one of the highest AIDS populations in the world.

The Dia Center for the Arts at 548 West 22nd Street has been located on the south side of the river end of the block for more than a decade, providing a glass-block detailed anchor tenant. Architect Richard Gluckman, who also designed the Whitney, designed the original Dia building and is currently working on another of the three 22nd Street Dia properties to provide even more exhibition space for the permanent collection.

James Schaeufele, director of operations for the Dia, said "We have a long-term commitment to this block because we have been here for quite a while. Chelsea is a great place to be and with the activity at the piers [see story page 1] the future is looking up. " The museum is closed for the Summer and will re-open with an Andy Warhol exhibit on Sept. 16.

In the meantime, oak trees, each with its own volcanic rock column, are being installed along the block by the gallery, not just to complete the tree-lined brownstone feel of Chelsea, but as part of an art project called $7,000 Oaks" started by the late-Joseph Beuys. The project is already partially installed in Europe and was funded by the Dia.

Across the street at 545 is the John Grupp designed Arnulf Rainer Museum, a sleek art museum that rents from Dia and opened last Fall. A spokesperson for the Rainer Museum said the gentrification of the block was no accident, since the Dia has an international following that brings art-loving people to the block from Soho and around the world.

"Whatever businesses are going to be opening will make it lively," said a spokesperson for the Rainer. "The hospice is also a great building to have for the community," she added, a sentiment that was echoed by others in the area, including Council Member Thomas K. Duane.

Rosita Sarnoff, general manager of Wells & Gay-Stribling, the premier Chelsea brokerage, said "Chelsea is the hot area. It started with the Sixth Avenue superstores and went westward, and Eighth Avenue, while not particularly attractive, is well leased up. There is no question that with the pier redevelopment, it's going to kick off."

While preparing for a recent auction conducted by Carlton Brokerage and Eastern Consolidated Properties, Ronda Rogovin, senior director of Eastern Consolidated Properties, said the people who showed the greatest amount of interest in the 22nd Street former furniture warehouse were the art dealers, the galleries, and the theater and garment industries for warehousing and storage.

The auction resulted in a protracted bidding war for the 115,800 square-foot fully sprinklered structure at 511 West 22nd Street. The final winners, at $3.01 million, were the trio of Jonathan Leitersdorf, an architect and developer; James Giddings, who has a background in development, construction and investment; and broker Christopher Schlank.

"This rides a subtle momentum that is already going in the neighborhood," said Giddings. "We like the neighborhood and like the museum on the block.

While they had several options for the building, which boasts 14-foot ceilings, after being approached by a number of art-related users -- including private collectors in search of their own mini-museum space, museums, dealers, craters, framers, and lithographers -- he said the red brick building will probably be turned into an art industry center.

"The intention is not to fill it up with any specific part of the art industry," he explained. "It's all still very flexible."

Giddings said the renovation itself will not be extensive. "We will keep the existing warehouse feel that the art community likes. Nothing will be blown up or overdone."

The area is becoming of great interest to the art community, notes David Brimlow, a broker with Taranto Management who is representing tenants and buildings in the area.

"It's going to be the Prince Street of the new community," he said. "I saw brokers walking down 22nd Street with art dealers in tow. Leases are coming up and they feel the Soho landlords are trying to charge too much. Dealers and galleries in Soho want to get out.

Brimlow just sold a property to a tenant who is converting it to a 5,000 square-foot gallery. Another artist just bought a 10,000 square-foot building and at least two of Soho's premiere women gallery owners are chasing other space. "The landlords are starting to find this out and they are starting to think they can get Soho prices, but they can't," warned Brimlow.

While not everyone will be able to buy at $26 a square foot, deals are being made with reasonable owners who bought many years ago.

The Colonial Decorative Display has held down the southside Eleventh Avenue comer for a long time. Irving Mittlemark heads the company that designs and manufactures displays for department stores like Bloomingdale's. His property lies across the street from a bar and SRO for retired seamen and longshoremen.

"In the past year and a half I've seen the block cleaned up and the police getting the crack dealers out of here and the bums off the street," he recalled. "It's cleaned up the whole block."

Mittlemark is delighted by not only the renovations on his own block, but the addition of the new Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex that is being installed across the highway, as well as a little highway park that will run up Eleventh Avenue.

"The value of [my] building can only increase," he noted. "It will enhance the block. I'm sure they will fix the place up and charge more money. It's the law of the jungle."