Blue-Collar High Line

The Highline Effect keeps knocking down Chelsea, and blue-collar businesses along the park have taken a few more hits, adding to the lightning-fast timeline of loss.


2012

At 19th St. on 10th Ave., Kamco Building Materials has been completely demolished. Nothing remains but a blue plywood wall.


today

Soon to take its place will be a pair of giant, $40-million condo towers, rising on both sides of the High Line. The condo project is called "The Highline." Because that name hasn't been used nearly enough. Here's a rendering of the double tower to come:


tomorrow

One block north, on 10th Ave. stretching across the entire block from 20th to 21st Streets, a GGMC parking garage is being demolished. Not much to look at, but part of the old low-rise neighborhood just the same. It sold for $47,900,000.



The address is 500 West 21st. Originally bought by hotelier Andre Balasz, the current developer, according to the Wall Street Journal, is "Sherwood, a New York City real-estate company that developed the Times Square buildings home to the Renaissance Hotel and the M&M Store."


today

The Times just did a story on the condo building to come: "As the area has become more family-friendly, the building will be made up primarily of larger apartments, many measuring more than 4,000 square feet. ...units could sell for 'somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500 a square foot,' putting the price for a 4,000-square-foot three- or four-bedroom unit around $10 million."

It's only being called by its address, but shouldn't it have the word "Highline" in its name? Maybe Highline Modern or Highline 500 or HL500 or The Highliner or...how about M&M Highline?


tomorrow

On the next block up 10th Avenue, D&R Auto Parts is up for rent. In 2011, the owner of D&R told AMNY, "'The High Line sucks.' He said he would 'rather have my knees cut off' than take a stroll along the sylvan pathway, as his profits have dropped 35% to 40% since it opened." And now it's gone.



I started this timeline awhile back, showing the blue-collar businesses along the old tracks that have folded since the northern sector of the New Highline opened in June 2011. Time to add more to the list:

5/2013: D&R Auto Parts shuttered
5/2013: GGMC Parking Garage demolished
4/2013: Kamco Building Materials demolished for condo towers
2/2013: Evan Auto moved a block away
1/2013: Edge Auto Rental moved to Brooklyn
1/2013: Central Iron & Metal sold to Related for $65 million
12/2011: Brownfeld Auto pushed out by landlord
12/2011: Chelsea Mobil sold and shuttered for upscale retail
9/2011: Village Lukoil shuttered
9/2011: D&R Auto Parts reported 40% drop in profits since High Line opened
8/2011: Bear Auto forced out by landlord for upscale development
8/2011: Olympia Parking Garage closed when landlord quintupled the rent
6/2011: Poppy's Terminal Food Shop changed hands, later shuttered
6/2011: 10th Ave. Tire Shop pushed out for High Line development