NYC Million-Dollar Listing Agent Luis Ortiz Talks Career Beginnings, Industry Changes

Looking south from a terrace on rental building at the Highline in West Chelsea, four cranes can be seen at work on new developments off in the distance. The World Trade Center’s towers are behind them, and the Statue of Liberty stands nobly in Hudson far behind it all. Turning east, the Empire State Building is just five avenues away. And one street to the north lies the game-changer: Hudson Yards.
NYC Million-Dollar Listing Agent Luis Ortiz Talks Career Beginnings, Industry Changes
Million Dollar Listing New York star and Douglas Elliman real estate agent Luis D. Ortiz on the rooftop of his home in West Chelsea, Manhattan, on Dec. 18, 2014. Ortiz chooses to live in Abington House, a high-end rental building, despite owning other properties in Manhattan. Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times
Sarah Matheson
Updated:

NEW YORK—Looking south from a terrace on a rental building at the Highline in West Chelsea, four cranes can be seen at work on new developments off in the distance. The World Trade Center’s towers are behind them, and the Statue of Liberty stands nobly in Hudson far behind it all. Turning east, the Empire State Building is just five avenues away. And one street to the north lies the game-changer: Hudson Yards.

From his living room window on the 30th floor of Abington House, Million Dollar Listing NYC star Luis D. Ortiz, observes the construction crews across the street. In August, when he moved here, the yards were just rising out of the ground.

“I’m a fan of being in neighborhoods that are going to be up and coming—not up and coming, seeing a neighborhood being built,” Ortiz said. “You’re in the midst of something amazing, which is Hudson Yards.”

Quote: NYC Million-Dollar Listing Agent Luis Ortiz Talks Career Beginnings, Industry Changes

The Far West Side neighborhood by the Highline is still only “secretly established,” according to Ortiz.

“You have galleries, secret restaurants that nobody knows about. When Hudson Yards is finished being built all the hotels, the commercial, the retail, the residential that’s going to be here—it’s going to be a different neighborhood,” he said.

Ortiz was drawn to Abington House’s luxury amenities, which include an Equinox gym, an entertainment lounge, two sun terraces (one with several BBQ grills), and a quiet room, called the sanctuary.

Despite all the appeal, Ortiz doesn’t have much time to use the amenities. When he is in his 1,400 square foot two-bedroom apartment, he enjoys some quiet time, or entertains friends and family.

A rendering of two buildings from the Hudson Yards development. (Courtesy of Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group)
A rendering of two buildings from the Hudson Yards development. Courtesy of Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group
Sarah Matheson
Sarah Matheson
Author
Sarah Matheson covers the business of luxury for Epoch Times. Sarah has worked for media organizations in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, and graduated with merit from the Aoraki Polytechnic School of Journalism in 2005. Sarah is almost fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Originally from New Zealand, she now lives next to the Highline in Manhattan's most up-and-coming neighborhood, West Chelsea.
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