Luxury Residences Being Used As Dorms, Party Venue For The 1%

DOWNTOWN/PROSPECT HEIGHTS – Residents of luxury rental tower, The Azure at 436 Albee Square, are angry with the hordes of college students moving into their building.

The 28-story residence, which was originally marketed as a family building, according to the New York Post, is renting out approximately 30% of its 150 units to students of The King’s College, a Christian liberal arts college in Manhattan’s Financial District. Building management decided on the dorm-style rentals after only a quarter of the building’s units were rented a few months following its debut in early 2018.

Students started moving into the building last August, with groups of four paying a total of $6,000 a month in rent to share two-bedroom apartments in the building, according to the Post.

The adult residents of the building, many with young children, complain that the students treat the building like a dorm, lounging around in their pajamas, sunbathing topless on the roof terrace, overtaking the gym, and jamming the elevators by taking short trips between floors to visit each other. After building management sent the students an email informing them of neighbors’ objections to their walking around in pajamas, the students attempted to throw a slumber party in The Azure’s lounge but were thwarted by the doorman.

Studio apartments at The Azure rent for $2,399 a month while two-bedrooms start at $3,391 a month.

In another instance of a luxury residence being used unconventionally, an unsold $4.5 million townhouse at 550 Vanderbilt will host a Crazy Rich Asians-themed match-making party on February 15, according to the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report.

Part of Greenland Group’s 22-acre Pacific Park mixed-use development, the 550 Vanderbilt maisonette features 3,200 square feet spread across two stories, with three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, and a 375-square-foot outdoor terrace. Forest City, the real estate investment firm that initiated the Pacific Park project, sold all but 5% of its stake in the project to Shanghai-based Greenland Group early last year.

Friday’s $150-ticket party is organized by High Tea Club NYC, a “premier marriage-oriented matchmaking concierge” for “outstanding Asians who do not have the time or right circle to find the right one.” The service focuses on spouse-seeking 25- to 45-year-olds who are “well rounded (beauty, brains, and background)” with a “strong moral character.” The group’s website boasts that it’s “dating for the 1%.”