In Chelsea: Gas Station to Boutique Condo

As the area around the High Line park continues its transformation from industrial hub to upscale housing district, a gas station is giving way to a boutique condominium.

The six-unit, 11-story Getty, at West 24th Street and 10th Avenue, is rising on a site that for years contained, naturally, a Getty station.

In a trendy submarket, creating something original and unconventional seemed important for the team behind the Getty, a partnership of the developers Shvo and the Victor Group, and the architect Peter Marino.

Different types of stone finishes will be used in different apartments, and stone will also vary in the kitchen and baths of each unit, said Michael Shvo, the chief executive of Shvo, adding that various types of marble, limestone and onyx from overseas quarries will be favored.

Likewise, the window panes for the condo will all be different sizes, Mr. Shvo said, giving each window a distinctive look.

“This building goes against the theory of development where you build things for the economies of scale,” Mr. Shvo said during a recent tour.

Like a large-scale sculpture, perhaps, the Getty has been slow to take shape. It broke ground in November 2014, and is not expected to open until summer 2017. Similarly, the Getty’s offering plan, which was submitted in July 2015, was still awaiting approval by the state’s attorney general as of Aug. 24.

The delays can be explained by a design change, said Ran Korolik, the executive vice president of the Victor Group.

Originally, the Getty was to have 10 apartments. But interest from a nonresidential tenant in the location, which abuts the elevated High Line and is amid many art galleries, led the developers to add more commercial space while reducing the number of residential units, Mr. Korolik said.

This tenant will be the Hill Art Foundation, which plans to operate a 6,400-square-foot two-story museum on the Getty’s third and fourth floors showcasing the private collection of J. Tomilson Hill, the vice chairman of the Blackstone Group private equity firm, and his wife, Janine. Multiple works by Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol are included in their collection.

Joining the foundation in the building will be the third New York location of the Lehmann Maupin gallery, which will occupy the Getty’s basement and first two stories.

Above the galleries, each of the apartments will have two elevators, Mr. Shvo said, plus at least one fireplace. Also, five of the six units will have terraces, including the duplex penthouse, which, according to Mr. Shvo, has a ceiling that stretches to 24 feet.

Mr. Marino, who designed the Getty’s checkerboard metal and glass facade, achieved early fame as a designer, in the 1970s, of one of Warhol’s “Factories,” on East 66th Street. Through the years, he has enjoyed a roster of prominent clients, like Louis Vuitton, for which he designed a boutique on Fifth Avenue, and Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chief executive, for whom he designed an apartment.

But except for 170 East End Avenue, a condominium on the Upper East Side, Mr. Marino doesn’t have many multifamily projects in New York. Adding his name to the so-called Design Row that the High Line has become, however, could quickly enhance his profile, according to Mr. Korolik.

For Mr. Shvo, the project is part of an attempt at a comeback. A high-flying real estate broker who took a multiyear break after the housing industry collapsed, Mr. Shvo now has a handful of projects underway in Manhattan, like 565 Broome SoHo, a 115-unit condominium he is working on, along with Bizzi & Partners Development, Aronov Development and Halpern Real Estate Ventures.

Until the Getty’s offering plan is approved, and pricing is finalized, Mr. Shvo said he could say only that the apartments would be “north of” $3,000 a square foot, roughly comparable to other projects on the High Line.

“Real estate is something that I have a lot of love and a lot of passion for,” he said, “and having the ability to develop some of the greatest sites in New York City is a real privilege.”