Bob and Cortney Novogratz are moving to a modern penthouse in \u201cDimes Square,\u201d Manhattan\u2019s ever-trendy micro-nabe between the Lower East Side and Chinatown, Gimme Shelter can reveal.<\/p>\n
But first, they have to build it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The husband-and-wife design and development duo \u2014 whose glam projects have run from downtown Manhattan<\/a> to LA\u2019s Bird Streets \u2014 bought the Grand Dairy Building for $3.9 million last month, according to property records. It was an all-cash deal.<\/p>\n This vacant Dimes Square building will become a six-story red brick boutique condo. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n Bob and Cortney Novogratz. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n The couple told Gimme Shelter they are building a six-story boutique condo on the spot of the three-story building, which dates to 1910 \u2014\u00a0and they plan to keep that penthouse for themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n The corner building, at 341 Grand St., will be marketed as 58 Ludlow for the residences, with a first-floor retail space keeping the Grand Street address. The architect is Norbert Figueroa of Studio Afar Architecture.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are empty nesters now,\u201d said Bob, 63, who together with Cortney, 54, raised seven kids \u2014 now aged 17 to 28 \u2014 as seen on their reality shows, Bravo\u2019s \u201c9 by Design\u201d in 2010 and HGTV\u2019s \u201cHome by Novogratz\u201d in 2011 to 2012. This year, they also became grandparents and have a 2-month-old grandchild.\u00a0<\/p>\n The building once housed the Grand Dairy Restaurant. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n The three-story building is on the corner of Ludlow and Grand. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n Last year, the couple renovated and sold a famed pink house in the West Village,\u00a0114 Waverly Place, for $20.8 million<\/a> as chronicled by Gimme Shelter<\/a>. In 2023, they sold a renovated 1931 Spanish villa in LA\u2019s Bird Streets for around $12 million.<\/p>\n Since then, the couple have been renting in Union Square and looking for their next project.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter we sold [Waverly Place], we were were itching to buy something,\u201d\u00a0 Bob said. \u201cAn opportunity like this doesn\u2019t come around that often. It\u2019s a unique place.\u201d<\/p>\n It was also just right for their vision. \u201cIt\u2019s too small for big developers, and too big for small guys to find financing. But it is exactly right for us,\u201d Novogratz said. <\/p>\n The couple first discovered the neighborhood around two decades ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt has such a rich history. I almost bought a bunch of buildings here around 18 years ago. I knew it would happen, like Soho,\u201d said Bob, adding that at the time there was just one restaurant, Zucco, now known as Le French Diner.<\/p>\n The building dates to 1910. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n Bob Novogratz on location at 58 Ludlow. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n \u201cThis area has something very unique,\u201d he added. \u201cI loved the openness and the light. It was very authentic.\u00a0It reminded me of [the now-shuttered] Caf\u00e9 Noir in Soho and the square itself was like the Meatpacking District with the light, so I had this epiphany.\u201d<\/p>\n The building\u2019s seller was an \u201cold school, Lower East Side guy. People said he would never sell. We told him we\u2019d call it the Grand Dairy Building,\u201d Bob said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Grand Dairy Restaurant, which was on the ground floor, was one of the neighborhood\u2019s last kosher dairy lunch counters serving the Lower East Side\u2019s Jewish community. It opened in the 1940s, and closed in the 1990s. The building has been vacant for around two decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to save the building but it doesn\u2019t look salvageable,\u201d Novogratz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Construction has begun. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n The design duo. Costas Picadas<\/p>\n If all goes according to plan, the residences should be move-in ready in 20 months. <\/p>\n The plan is to build five full-floor residences, with high ceilings and private elevator landings.<\/p>\n The building\u2019s style will be modern industrial: a classic red brick building with black steel curved windows \u2014 staying authentic to the original edifice and the neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe already have a lot of interest,\u201d he said, adding that they will also be curating who lives there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really want to make it a boutique hotel-style experience. It\u2019s fun to be able to do something this small and create a community,\u201d he said, adding that inspiration came from projects including 220 E. Ninth St., which will be a new luxury red brick boutique condo built on the site of a former parking garage, and the Crosby Street Hotel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As for the penthouse, he said: \u201cThis is the one we\u2019ll never sell.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bob and Cortney Novogratz are moving to a modern penthouse in \u201cDimes Square,\u201d Manhattan\u2019s ever-trendy micro-nabe between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14507,2450,1023,9,56,63,65,64,2453,1491,3006],"class_list":{"0":"post-191197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-downtown","9":"tag-gimme-shelter","10":"tag-luxury-real-estate","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-penthouses","17":"tag-real-estate","18":"tag-residential-real-estate"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}