Starchitect to Oversee Belnord Condo Conversion

A year ago we reported that the Upper West Side icon, the Belnord, was joining the stampede of buildings converting to condominiums. Now 6sqft reports that developer HFZ Capital has tapped starchitect Robert A.M. Stern to oversee the conversion of 95 of the full-block building’s 213 rental units into luxury condos.

HFZ purchased the 1908 building from Extell in 2015 for $575 million, and an offering plan was filed with the New York attorney general’s office in the spring of 2016 to reveal a $1.35 billion sellout (roughly $3,000 a square foot on average; among the highest-ever on the Upper West Side), with two-bedrooms going for over $3 million, three-bedrooms priced between $4.4 million to $7.3 million, and a seven-bedroom apartment asking $18.4 million. HFZ will continue to convert each rental apartment as they become vacant. The building notably also maintains a number of rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartments. The end goal is to create 213 condo apartments.

On being awarded the project, Stern said in a statement: “It is a privilege to be able to be part of the reimagined Belnord, the grandest of New York’s turn-of-the-twentieth-century full square block courtyard buildings and a building I’ve long admired. The Belnord has great bones and we’re giving it a top-drawer restoration, preserving its original charm, but with a few nips and tucks for security and accessibility already approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission; creating a new fitness center; and then transforming the apartments to suit 21st-century living.”