By:  Serach Nissim

A penthouse owner at a swanky condo-hotel in NoMad is hoping to make a hefty profit selling the unit after owning it for just one year.

Lauren Mitinas-Kelly, an investor who owns a two-bedroom unit at the Ritz-Carlton at West 28th Street and Broadway, has listed the home asking $9 million.  As reported by Crain’s NY, she had purchased the unit, No. PH41D at 35 W. 28th St., for $6.4 million in December 2022.  The asking price is a 40% hike over the investment, just 12 months earlier.  The big-time increase in the asking price is not really because of a better market, but rather a function of recent buzz around the hotel, and its potential earnings as an Airbnb, said Mitinas-Kelly.  The unit is one of just 16 condos at the 44-story tower, which features 250 hotel rooms.

Developed by Flag Luxury Group, the Ritz-Carlton New York in NoMad, made $88 million selling off its 16 condos, situated on the top four floors of the tower. Mitinas-Kelly’s unit would be the first resale at the building, which had sold the last of its sponsor units in the summer.  “It’s been fun, it’s been awesome, but let’s be the first on the market and see what happens,” said Mitinas-Kelly, who also works as a broker for the firm Serhant and is marketing the property herself.

The posh  NoMad Ritz building, in the iconic NoMad neighborhood, has opened up more restaurants and bars up since it first opened its doors in 2022, adding more allure.  Chef Jose Andres has since opened a restaurant Bazaar, serving Japanese-Spanish dishes.  The building, designed by world-renowned architect Rafael Viñoly, offers best-in-class amenities, including a state-of-the-art wellness floor -consisting of the Ritz-Carlton Spa and the Club Lounge-, several event spaces, a 3,000 SF event terrace, business services, a media room and concierge.  The tower also boasts one of the highest bars downtown with 360-degree views of One World Trade, the Statue of Liberty, and well beyond.

The unit itself is a corner unit, offering 1,850-square-feet of space with two bedrooms, two and a half baths, an open kitchen, a washer and dryer, and sweeping city views. Monthly charges are over $7,000.

The interesting thing is that the Ritz is located in a Garment District manufacturing zone- so that buyers can’t live there for more than four months out of the year and for no more than 29 days at a time.  Per Crain’s, the weird zoning helps create a loophole so that it is excluded from the state dwelling law mandating that short-term rentals must be longer than 30 days.

This means, that while so many other apartments in the city are getting kicked off Airbnb and other listing sites, with the state crackdown on housing being used as short-term rentals, at this building, there are no such restrictions.  So, the units at the Ritz will be able to ask higher prices for rentals, as the city will have such a limited supply of units that were approved by the new city registry.   Mitinas-Kelly said she frequently rented her unit out at rates between $8,000 and $15,000 per night in 2023, although she declined to specify how many total nights the apartment was rented out for.