Tribeca Is Starting to Act Like Chinatown

Is Tribeca the new Chinatown? Taking a cue from its ever-expanding neighbor to the north, Tribeca just keeps on growing. The newest outpost on the eastern frontier is the former Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank, a monumental institution in the lives of the city’s Irish immigrants, which looks down on the Tweed Courthouse and will soon be converted into a luxury condominium, the New York Times reports.

The H-shaped, 17-story Beaux Arts tower, built between 1909 and 1912, will house 99 condo apartments, including four penthouses, according to the developer, the Chetrit Group. Prices for the smallest one-bedroom apartments will start at $1.9 million, which is considered affordable by Tribeca standards.

“You’re right in the center of everything,” says Angela Ferrara of The Marketing Directors, the firm in charge of sales. “You’ve got every train option available, but if you want to walk home from your office in the Financial District or in Battery Park City, this is perfect.”

As the condo building boom continues, despite softening sales and an abundance of supply, the litany of buildings being converted from their original uses to residential use just keeps growing. Along with former banks like the Emigrant Industrial tower, former synagogues, fire stations, hotels, office buildings, libraries, and churches have recently morphed into condos. Of course all this competition means that developers must offer an ever-growing menu of amenities. When it opens as a condominium in 2018, the former Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank will feature a pool, a lounge, a rooftop dining area, a yoga and fitness room, bike storage, and something called a hammam, which is a steam room similar to a Turkish bath. An ideal way to unwind after a tough day of making the large dollars on Wall Street.