The Phantom Apartment

The Phantom Apartment

            I never thought I would say this!  You know how hard it is to find an affordable apartment in Manhattan with all the amenities you could want, in a neighborhood that has everything a tenant could desire.  Well, I found one on the upper west side, in a building called the Haswell.

            I contacted the brokers, SLP Properties and P2B Ventures; after reading the prospectus on line.  It said that the reconstructed building (12 stories built over the original 6 stories of  existing rentals) would have 64 units for sale at an average of $2,000 per square foot.  The building is now under construction and scheduled for completion by approximately the spring of 2018.

            Amenities would include outdoor spaces like a roof garden, a beautiful new lobby, and a reading room for those of us who find it difficult to read in our own apartments.  (This way we could share what we’re reading with anyone who happens to be sitting there!)  We all know that the Upper West Side is a great place to live-subways and parks nearby, a McDonalds just one block away, homeless shelters right around the corner, and two large buildings (one directly across the street and one adjacent to the site) that have been going through reconstruction for over three years. 

            Then there’s the noise.  It’s true that West End Avenue is restricted to commercial transportation like trucks, buses and construction vehicles, but the developer plans to store the trucks necessary for the reconstruction of 707 West End Avenue in the garage that now exists on the ground floor of the premises (94^th to 95^th Streets.)  However in order to do this they have to lower the floor and raise the roof of the garage.  You can believe that the people who now live on the second floor of the building are not happy about this!  Also, I spoke to someone who now lives on the seventh floor of the building who’s worrying about the platforms they will have to construct on the present roof of the building so that they can add the ten story condo with the 64 units.  (Yes, it’s 10 more floors, not 12.)

            The developers say not to worry!  The old tenants will have many improvements added to their existing apartments when the construction begins: central air conditioning, new windows, a new lobby and a new elevator on the north side of the building that will proceed directly from the lobby to the entrance to the new condos. The only problem is that the old tenants will not be able to use that elevator, and anyone living next to it on every floor from 2 to 7 has already been moved or evicted to make room for the elevator.

            Oh, as I mentioned before, the new building even has a new address: 707 West End Avenue, instead of 711 West End Avenue.  But don’t try to find it on the canopy of the existing building!  It’s not there yet.  It will exist in the future.  The same future that predicted we would have flying cars by the 21^st century, a comfortable home for every citizen of the U.S,  no people dying in civil wars around the globe, temperate climate for all the citizens, and enough food for everyone in the world.  And enough schools so every child could be educated, and intelligent and compassionate leaders to guide us through this wonderful utopia that would exist by 2050. 

            So I think I’ll wait before I apply for an imaginary apartment at 707 West End Avenue. In the meantime, I suggest we should camp out in front of the site and close our eyes.  When we fall asleep we might dream about the phantom apartment.

                                                                                                Gerri Gewirtz  (8/26/16)