Uncommon Aesthetics in an Old Factory Site (original) (raw)

Real Estate|Uncommon Aesthetics in an Old Factory Site

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/realestate/uncommon-aesthetics-in-an-old-factory-site.html

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Square Feet

Oct. 10, 2004

WHEN Irwin Cohen bought the old industrial building nearly 10 years ago that became the Chelsea Market, the area around Ninth and 10th Avenues was a desolate, windy stretch with little pedestrian traffic and absolutely no cachet. For more than 50 years, beginning in the 1890's, the building had been part of a large factory operated by Nabisco. One of its most glorious moments came in 1912, with the production of the first Oreo cookie.

Now, of course, Mr. Cohen looks prescient. Chelsea Market, where the brick walls, wood floors and exposed pipes glorify the building's industrial past, is a bustling collection of businesses, most involving food -- sometimes raw, more frequently prepared. It is near the new stores and restaurants of the meatpacking district and not far from the art galleries of west Chelsea.

With that success behind him, Mr. Cohen early last year made his second large investment in the area when he led a group that purchased the other half of the old Nabisco property, at 85 10th Avenue opposite the Chelsea Market property, paying $57 million, according to city records.

Just like the lobby of the Chelsea Market, the lobby of his more recent acquisition reflects Mr. Cohen's penchant for unusual aesthetic choices. On the 10th Avenue side, there is a forest made up of old gas-lamp poles embedded in concrete, and on the 11th Avenue side, a tree made of steel bars, usually used to reinforce concrete.

The lobby also has a wall covered with shiny metal plates, and props from a Broadway musical.

Before Mr. Cohen developed the Chelsea buildings, he turned some old factory buildings in Long Island City, Queens, into multitenant properties. He was unconventional there as well. At one location he took an old water tank down from the roof, painted it and installed it in front of the building as a sort of landmark.

The building at 85 10th Avenue is already home to the venerable Frank's, a steakhouse on the 15th Street side. Scheduled to open next year on the 16th Street side is Il Posto, a 400-seat Italian restaurant owned by the noted chef Mario Batali and the mother-and-son team of Lidia and Joseph Bastianich.

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