T&E Development has purchased a vacant residential development site near Manhattan’s Hudson Yards for $33.5 million, marking a notable land trade in one of the borough’s most active luxury condominium corridors.
The property, located at 538-542 West 29th Street on the south side of the block between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, consists of a 9,875-square-foot lot. PPHE Hotel Group sold the site, with Colliers’ New York Capital Markets team arranging the transaction on behalf of the seller.
The development parcel offers 74,063 square feet of as-of-right zoning floor area, according to the parties involved in the deal. On that basis, the sale equates to roughly $452 per buildable square foot, underscoring investor willingness to pay premium land pricing for well-located sites with clear development potential.
T&E Development plans to construct 76 luxury condominium units on the property, according to a representative of Colliers. The site sits just north of the West Chelsea Historic District and in close proximity to Hudson Yards, positioning the future project within a pocket of Manhattan that has seen extensive high-end residential and mixed-use development over the past cycle.
Colliers describes the parcel as one of the few remaining unconstrained development sites in this part of Manhattan. Within the stretch from West 20th Street to West 30th Street, the firm notes there is currently only one condominium project under construction, highlighting the limited pipeline of new for-sale residential product in the immediate area.
Commentary from Colliers points to broader dynamics shaping New York City’s condominium development landscape. The firm observes that cost volatility and interest rate movements have pushed many new projects toward “trophy” buyers, where projected sellouts above $3,000 per square foot are viewed as better able to absorb unexpected cost increases.
At the same time, Colliers indicates that the more price-sensitive segment of the condo market is not being actively served. Buyers looking in the approximately $2,000 to $2,700 per square foot range are seeing limited new product, reflecting the challenge of making construction economics work at those price points in the current environment.
The transaction, which combines a sizable as-of-right development envelope with a luxury condominium business plan, illustrates how investors are targeting locations and product types that can potentially support higher pricing to offset elevated development and financing costs.
Image courtesy of Colliers.
