The higher you go, the more floors with "8" in them. (Extell)

It’s nothing new that Chinese buyers are flooding the apartment market in New York and the rest of the country. Yet a pretty definitive article on the subject in The Journal reveals some interesting facts about the lengths some developers will go to to reach the Chinese market, including one project of particular interest to us: Gary Barnett’s One57.

In a nod to Asian buyers, the building put many of its most luxurious full-floor apartments on the 80th through 88th floors—a clever way to appeal to the Chinese belief that eight is the luckiest number. Apartment 88 is under contract to a Chinese buyer for around $50 million.

[...]

In the last six months, 10 to 15 pricey units in One57, a glitzy new high-rise being built in midtown Manhattan, went into contract with wealthy Chinese buyers. When completed, the building—which features a Park Hyatt below the condo units—will be New York's tallest residential building. HNA Group, one of China's largest conglomerates that recently bought several commercial properties in New York, signed contracts for two full-floor apartments and two half-floor units in One57, according to a person close to the situation.

And see here we thought the reason to build an exceptionally tall tower was to have unparalleled views. Look no further than 15 CPW to see that height isn’t everything. But in the case of One57, Mr. Barnett has built the only tower with a full run of apartments on the 80th through 88th floors (89 and 90 are the record-setting duplex).

At New York by Gehry, the tower tops out at 76 stories, and besides, it’s a rental, so not the best investment. Meanwhile the Trump International only hits 72 floors. The elevator, in a trick of architecture, counts 90, so maybe the Chinese would buy it, but the imposing black tower is two decades old, and as The Journal points out, Chinese buyers desire only new construction.

No wonder Harry Macklowe and CIM are building their 100-plus-story 432 Park. I mean, what other reason could one have for going so high? Certainly not the attention or bragging rights.

College, the latest real estate ammenity! (CityProfile.com)

Earlier this week, The Observer looked at the measures developers and brokers are taking to entice that newest hot buyer, the Chinese. They might want to consider adding keggerators and tutoring services. Of the increasing number of Chinese buyers, an increasing number are buying for their college-bound kids, according to DNAinfo.

Real estate adviser Justin Stewart has been in deep discussions with a client from China who's determined to buy an an apartment in Manhattan in anticipation of his son attending college here — even though the boy is still four years from graduating high school. [snip]

Many of these clients have been buying or looking at new condos in Harlem for their children attending college or grad school at Columbia, Fordham or other schools in the city, [Stephen G. Kliegerman of Halstead] said.

"The Chinese buyers see Harlem as a good value and an up-and-coming area," Kliegerman said. "They’re interested in the value and the quality of the product. They're looking for the contemporary finishes."

So they're buoying the currency, they're buoying the real estate market, and now that Americans can't afford college, the Chinese will happily keep that afloat, too.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Laura Cerrano gets her feng shui on

Most of the sights and sounds at this morning’s event in Long Island City were pretty standard fare for a groundbreaking: guys in shirts and ties, wearing hard hats and holding novelty shovels, a massive back hoe parked in the back of a lot prepped for excavation.

A less ordinary sight however, was the young woman in a dark skirtsuit pacing the edges of the earthen lot, chanting quietly and gently tossing grains of vodka-soaked rice while development executives looked on appreciatively.

As bizarre as the sight may sound, it is almost surely a sign of things to come on the home front.

“Everyone can benefit from good energy,” said Eric Benaim, President of Modern Spaces. His company has enlisted the services of “Certified Feng Shui Consultant” Laura Cerrano of Feng Shui Long Island to advise them on every facet of the design and construction of Vista Court, a 15-story residential building on Purves Street just south of Northern Boulevard.

But Modern Spaces' decision went beyond simple good vibrations. The firm, like so many other developers in the city, wanted to attract that most auspicious tenant-of-the-moment: the Chinese.

For Modern Spaces, the plan to attract those buyers is quite literally from the ground up. Aside from providing advice on how units should be designed, placement of windows and balconies, doing away with the fourth floor of the structure entirely (“that will be more of a re-naming,” admitted Ms. Cerrano), one of Ms. Cerrano’s contributions to the project was today’s ceremony that prepared the lot for excavation.

That lobby light is feeling the shui.

The ceremony included burying small red baggies filled with objects that represented the five elements, the burning of sage, and, finally, the rice ceremony which necessitated Ms. Cerrano to pour 99 drops of Smirnoff Vodka onto a bowl full of uncooked rice, before adding the mineral cinnabar and stirring the mixture with her middle finger 99 times. “I offered her Ketel One,” joked Mr. Benaim who added that Ms. Cerrano was very specific about her brand of vodka.

After completing her prep, Ms. Cerrano educated the audience on how sprinkling the rice along the perimeter of the lot would feed the ghosts and spirits that inhabit the space and provide positive energy for its future tenants.

As The Observer watched Ms. Cerrano stroll carefully over the uneven, cement-cragged ground, we wondered what brokers in SoHo were doing at that moment to attract what’s left of the European buyer’s market. Maybe some ouzo would do the trick.

tmcenery@observer.com