Tweet
NYC - Too Bad this doesn't trade in II !!!
Habitats/The Phillips Club, 66th Street West of Broadway; Buying a Time Share For Visits to Manhattan - New York Times
Habitats/The Phillips Club, 66th Street West of Broadway; Buying a Time Share For Visits to Manhattan
By TRISH HALL
Published: March 4, 2001
PETER J. PALMISANO left New York many years ago, when he headed off to college at Georgia Tech. It was the only college he really knew about, because one of his mother's nine siblings had gone there. Mr. Palmisano had grown up in the Italian neighborhood around Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, and until he was a college student, he had never set foot in Manhattan. ''My entire existence was a five-block radius,'' he said.
Now he's a successful real estate developer in California whose projects have included lofts in San Francisco, the transformation of the Hamilton Field military base in Novato, Calif., into a residential community, and currently, the renovation of the train station in Oakland.
Mr. Palmisano, 52, and his wife, Christy Cizek, 43, an architectural color consultant, have an apartment in San Francisco and a country place in the Napa Valley. They wanted to start spending more time in New York, as much as two months a year, in part so they could visit more with his mother, who now lives on Long Island. But they didn't really want a third home they would have to maintain.
One day Mr. Palmisano was looking at some information a friend had sent about a ski resort organized as a time share. He didn't have any interest in investing in a ski place, but he did notice in the literature that a company that had consulted on the project was planning a luxury time-share operation in Manhattan. That did interest him, and so he got in touch with the company, and when the Phillips Club expanded about 15 months ago on West 66th Street across from Lincoln Center, he and his wife flew to New York to try it out.
They liked the apartments, which have large rooms elegantly furnished in shades of taupe and beige. ''Aesthetically they did a good job,'' Ms. Cizek said. Everything is new; the building, once occupied by the Chinese Mission to the United Nations, was gutted.
But they were most impressed by the staff members, who were so attentive that the couple were greeted by name the next morning.
Still, Ms. Cizek and Mr. Palmisano thought that a hotel might be a practical choice, too, and so they went to the Peninsula Hotel, at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, to see what it might be like to stay there on a regular basis. They didn't get very far. They saw dozens of people checking in and checking out, and realized they didn't want to be tourists in New York. They wanted to visit without suitcases.
And so they signed on with the Phillips Club, buying one share in a large one-bedroom apartment for $225,000, with about $6,000 a year in dues. They can spend as many nights a year as they want, subject to availability.
AT any one time, they can make three reservations, each from one to seven days. They can even call within 48 hours of their visit and if an apartment of another size is available, they can take that. They can book on the day of arrival, or up to 14 months in advance.
The club has apartments ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. If all the members used the club equally, each would get 45 nights a year, because a single membership is about a one-eighth ownership of an apartment. Their rights cannot be shifted to a similar club, because the developer, Millennium Partners, has not built any others, but if Millennium develops similar clubs in other cities it anticipates that rights would be reciprocal.
So far, they have had no problems getting an apartment when they want one -- but the club has not yet sold all its memberships.
They keep clothes, heavy boots and coats in a portable closet that is rolled into their apartment when they arrive. They don't always have the same apartment, but the one-bedroom apartments all look the same.
The club is like a deluxe hotel, with sumptuous leather chairs in the cherry-paneled library, where breakfast is laid out each morning, and back-lit marble panels in the lobby.
Ms. Cizek, who grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., says she loves to travel, and so spending time in New York is a treat. Mr. Palmisano said he is a less-avid traveler, but he values change. ''It gives us a chance to get away from our other life, and get new, innovative ideas,'' he said. ''I love spontaneity. Here you can just pick up and go and do whatever adventure you want.''
On a recent day, they worked out at the nearby Reebok Sports Club, whose privileges come with their time-share membership, and then did some work. He keeps in touch with his office by e-mail and phone, and she now has some clients here. Later, they were going to the Tenement Museum, at Orchard and Broome Street on the Lower East Side, and then to see the play ''Dinner with Friends'' Off Broadway. They consume as much of the city as they can.
''We don't do this in San Francisco,'' Mr. Palmisano said. ''This is a chance to get away.''
And, in his opinion, it is a bargain. A similar condo, he estimated, would have cost them $1.4 million, ''and then you feel obligated to use it.'' If they bought their own home, they wouldn't be asked by staff members whether they wanted them to do their grocery shopping at the Balducci's next door before their arrival.
As it is, they are always greeted with a gift basket with biscotti and shortbread.
''They definitely spoil us,'' Ms. Cizek said.
Habitats/The Phillips Club, 66th Street West of Broadway; Buying a Time Share For Visits to Manhattan
By TRISH HALL
Published: March 4, 2001
PETER J. PALMISANO left New York many years ago, when he headed off to college at Georgia Tech. It was the only college he really knew about, because one of his mother's nine siblings had gone there. Mr. Palmisano had grown up in the Italian neighborhood around Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, and until he was a college student, he had never set foot in Manhattan. ''My entire existence was a five-block radius,'' he said.
Now he's a successful real estate developer in California whose projects have included lofts in San Francisco, the transformation of the Hamilton Field military base in Novato, Calif., into a residential community, and currently, the renovation of the train station in Oakland.
Mr. Palmisano, 52, and his wife, Christy Cizek, 43, an architectural color consultant, have an apartment in San Francisco and a country place in the Napa Valley. They wanted to start spending more time in New York, as much as two months a year, in part so they could visit more with his mother, who now lives on Long Island. But they didn't really want a third home they would have to maintain.
One day Mr. Palmisano was looking at some information a friend had sent about a ski resort organized as a time share. He didn't have any interest in investing in a ski place, but he did notice in the literature that a company that had consulted on the project was planning a luxury time-share operation in Manhattan. That did interest him, and so he got in touch with the company, and when the Phillips Club expanded about 15 months ago on West 66th Street across from Lincoln Center, he and his wife flew to New York to try it out.
They liked the apartments, which have large rooms elegantly furnished in shades of taupe and beige. ''Aesthetically they did a good job,'' Ms. Cizek said. Everything is new; the building, once occupied by the Chinese Mission to the United Nations, was gutted.
But they were most impressed by the staff members, who were so attentive that the couple were greeted by name the next morning.
Still, Ms. Cizek and Mr. Palmisano thought that a hotel might be a practical choice, too, and so they went to the Peninsula Hotel, at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, to see what it might be like to stay there on a regular basis. They didn't get very far. They saw dozens of people checking in and checking out, and realized they didn't want to be tourists in New York. They wanted to visit without suitcases.
And so they signed on with the Phillips Club, buying one share in a large one-bedroom apartment for $225,000, with about $6,000 a year in dues. They can spend as many nights a year as they want, subject to availability.
AT any one time, they can make three reservations, each from one to seven days. They can even call within 48 hours of their visit and if an apartment of another size is available, they can take that. They can book on the day of arrival, or up to 14 months in advance.
The club has apartments ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. If all the members used the club equally, each would get 45 nights a year, because a single membership is about a one-eighth ownership of an apartment. Their rights cannot be shifted to a similar club, because the developer, Millennium Partners, has not built any others, but if Millennium develops similar clubs in other cities it anticipates that rights would be reciprocal.
So far, they have had no problems getting an apartment when they want one -- but the club has not yet sold all its memberships.
They keep clothes, heavy boots and coats in a portable closet that is rolled into their apartment when they arrive. They don't always have the same apartment, but the one-bedroom apartments all look the same.
The club is like a deluxe hotel, with sumptuous leather chairs in the cherry-paneled library, where breakfast is laid out each morning, and back-lit marble panels in the lobby.
Ms. Cizek, who grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., says she loves to travel, and so spending time in New York is a treat. Mr. Palmisano said he is a less-avid traveler, but he values change. ''It gives us a chance to get away from our other life, and get new, innovative ideas,'' he said. ''I love spontaneity. Here you can just pick up and go and do whatever adventure you want.''
On a recent day, they worked out at the nearby Reebok Sports Club, whose privileges come with their time-share membership, and then did some work. He keeps in touch with his office by e-mail and phone, and she now has some clients here. Later, they were going to the Tenement Museum, at Orchard and Broome Street on the Lower East Side, and then to see the play ''Dinner with Friends'' Off Broadway. They consume as much of the city as they can.
''We don't do this in San Francisco,'' Mr. Palmisano said. ''This is a chance to get away.''
And, in his opinion, it is a bargain. A similar condo, he estimated, would have cost them $1.4 million, ''and then you feel obligated to use it.'' If they bought their own home, they wouldn't be asked by staff members whether they wanted them to do their grocery shopping at the Balducci's next door before their arrival.
As it is, they are always greeted with a gift basket with biscotti and shortbread.
''They definitely spoil us,'' Ms. Cizek said.
Comment