My first clients when I started CORE back in 2005 were John and Keith Jacobson. Brothers and fellow expatriates from South Africa who knew me from my days at my previous firm. They trusted that I would focus my creative energy and efforts on their project and took a leap of faith in me and the CORE brand I was building. I gave them my handshake and word that I would do everything I could in order to help them succeed. A handshake in “the old country” meant more than any exclusive contract written on paper. They had bought a site on 19th Street between the West Side highway and 10th Avenue. No Man’s Land. This would be the very first luxury condo in this part of Manhattan. A place on the map that almost nobody ventured. If you gave a cab driver the address, they responded with a raised eyebrow. There was little reason to go that far west. No stores. No transportation. No real parks. No schools. No life.
Usually, when a neighborhood evolves, the artists go first and then everyone follows. This was the case in this part of town. The art galleries that were being priced out of their pricey retail locations in SoHo were all moving to this new part of the city. Rents and land were dirt cheap. Galleries started popping up all over the neighborhood – a foreshadowing of what would ultimately become the highest concentration of art galleries in the world.
John has an uncanny instinct of knowing where the next market might be heading. He has an artist’s sensibility that goes beyond his funky pants. He had previously developed a building on Crosby Street years before that part of town became ultra-trendy. His building attracted the likes of Boris Becker (Yes – the tennis player), Harvey Weinstein (Yes – that guy) and Kelly Ripa.
Our challenge for West 19th Street was big. Sell expensive homes in a neighborhood that almost nobody went to... yet. The Highline was still a defunct railway, the Hudson River Park was not yet a park, and the closest food store was a 15-minute cab ride away. Bringing people (buyers and agents) would be a challenge. The neighborhood didn’t even have a name.
John and Keith hired Anabelle Selldorf for the project. This would be her first complete condo project in NYC. Annabelle was well known and loved by the art industry and we decided that our pioneering buyer would have to appreciate the art world, Anabelle’s design sensitivity, and look forward to the future of that part of town. They would have to be pioneers (with big wallets).
We came up with and named the neighborhood “West Chelsea”. We set up the first-ever gallery space specifically to sell the project before the foundation was poured. We focused on engaging the press to tell our story. We offered car services to people who didn’t know how to get to the sales office.
It took us 18 months and we sold out the building and achieved record prices for the neighborhood. 19th Street would ultimately become one of the most significant architectural blocks in the world – with buildings designed by Frank Gehry, Jeanne Nouvelle, Anabelle Selldorf, Shigeru Ban, Thomas Juul-Hansen, and Thomas Heatherwick.
The boys from South Africa had big balls. They took a calculated risk on a new neighborhood and my new company. For that, I will be forever grateful. West Chelsea is now one of the most expensive zip codes in the country and this year, I will be launching the best residential project this city has ever seen – a stone’s throw away.
Let’s do this!
-Shaun