Arris Lofts

Well-built lofts as blank canvases for bespoke renovations

“The nature of the Arris Lofts’s construction — its thick walls in particular — ensures there’s both heat retention in the winter and a certain degree of natural cooling in the summer,” Fauchet adds. The building sits on a triangulated site right next to the Sunnyside Yards — a major Long Island Rail Road depot — and because of the building’s sturdy structure, residences facing it benefit from optimal acoustic insulation. This is achieved, in part, thanks to the girthy walls and newly introduced double-pane windows. “If one’s not paying attention, they don’t hear the noise outside,” he adds. Because Arris Lofts is an industrial conversion building, its units are essentially blank canvases that have, of course, undergone different levels of alteration by previous owners but they can still easily be gut-renovated based on new specifications. Fauchet notes that several were retrofitted with mezzanines so that residents could make the most of their double-height interiors. Regardless of this pliability, most of these homes still feature original sponsor finishes and appliances from premium brands Electrolux and Liebherr.

While an 842 square-foot one bedroom on the 5th floor went for just under $1 million in fall 2024, a 1,324 square-foot one bedroom sold for $1.4 million around the same time. Though prices more closely reflect the amount of space and building positioning, two bedrooms have peaked at $2.3 million. Sprawling top floor three to four bedrooms can surpass the $5 million mark but average out around $3.5 million. As a condo, there’s flexibility here when it comes to renting out units that are held as investments or utilizing them as pied-a-terres. Top floor residences have especially deep set back-anchored private terraces. Corner units on this level have even larger ones with unobstructed views of the Midtown skyline due to the expansive void of the adjacent rail depot. There was once a risk of that disappearing, however.

Amazon’s thwarted efforts to build a massive New York City campus

In its bid to establish a second headquarters in the mid-2010s, online retail giant Amazon set its sights on several underutilized urban locales throughout North America including Sunnyside Yards. The plan was to construct a multi-building campus above the busy rail depot much like how Hudson Yards is “platformed” above West Side Yards in Hell’s Kitchen. According to a 2019 New York Times article, the company ultimately pulled out due to public outcry about it receiving a major tax break from the state government as an incentive to complete the project but also the very real possibility of this new city-within-a-city driving up the cost of living in a neighborhood already impacted by gentrification. Today, Amazon has focused on establishing its New York office in a series of pre-existing buildings throughout Manhattan.

Ample outdoor spaces, other amenities and key cultural venues in the vicinity

Arris Lofts is a full-service condo and with that comes a spacious lobby helmed by 24/7 door attendants and concierges. There’s also an oft-updated fitness center, saunas, and a salt-water lap pool. The carefully manicured courtyard garden features a pond while the expansive shared rooftop is furnished with outdoor dining tables and lounge chairs. All residences are equipped with in-unit washer/dryers but there’s also an additional laundry room in the basement with higher-capacity machines. Residents have access to the adjacent, third party-operated Court Square Municipal Parking Garage through a covered subterranean hallway, which is ideal during inclement weather.

Arris Lofts is across the street from the world famous PS1, a more experimental and installation focused outpost of the Museum of Modern Art. Popular area eateries and watering holes include Heng Thai, Court Square Diner and Fifth Hammer Brewing Company. Just down Thompson Avenue, which merges into Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside is a small neighborhood replete with an eclectic array of owner-operated eateries. However, it’s Astoria — just to the north — that is widely considered to be one of the city’s main food meccas. Five blocks west, the Hunters Point waterfront complex is a series of newly introduced, activity-rich green spaces. This architectural feat — defined by undulating walkways and curved retaining walls — interconnects promenades, picnic lawns, viewing perches, a preserved wetland ecosystem, basketball courts, a dog run and the Queens Public Library at Hunters Point, a striking architectural gem in its own right. A bit closer, Murray Park has soccer fields and a playground. There’s a Trader Joe’s and Target within a block’s distance of Arris Lofts.