Brooklyn is finally getting a new skyscraper development worthy of its 2.6 million populace. Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved SHoP Architects‘ vision for 9 DeKalb Avenue, a rehabilitation of the landmarked Dime Saving Bank that will marry it with a dramatic, supertall skyscraper behind, the first 1,000+ foot building to arrive in the borough.

The Beaux-Arts banking hall, which is both an interior and exterior landmark, hosted a J.P. Morgan Chase branch up until last year. Now, its new owners, Michael Stern’s JDS Development and the Chetrit Group, plan to transform the hall into a public and retail space that will complement their new tower. To bring back more of the building’s grandeur, its exterior and interior spaces will be restored, and to accommodate the tower behind, the team is calling for the demolition of two nondescript one- and five-story rear annexes, which will then allow for a grand entrance to the skyscraper and a public through-space.

The LPC was enamored with the project, calling it “flawless” and “enlightened urbanism at its best,” as well as touting that it “improved the vision of this historic landmark.” One commissioner even went so far as to say “It’s similar to the Parthenon sitting on the Acropolis.” The LPC had only a few minor modifications, the most notable being that the teller cages be retained until the team can show a plan detailing how the retail tenant (there will only be one) will use the space.

The Dime Savings Bank is among the borough’s greatest architectural icons, boasting a timeless Classical Revival marble exterior with a classical entablature and pediment, resting on stately rows of Ionic columns. It was first finished in 1908 under the architects Mowbray & Uffinger and then greatly expanded in 1932 under Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, who are responsible for the interior’s large gilded Mercury-head dimes and 12 red marble columns supporting the rotunda.

In addition to possibly reconfiguring the teller stations, interior work includes restoration of the rotunda and original Terrazzo marble flooring, replacement of modern flooring with marble flooring, and the addition of double-pane clear glazing at the bank windows.

Set to soar 73 stories and 1,066 feet tall, the tower’s shape uses interlocking hexagons that are inspired by the footprint of the bank and respond to the site’s triangular shape. During the presentation, Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects noted that they didn’t want to build another slab tower like those on the rise nearby. As such, the facade articulation and the materials used are meant to give the building more texture, especially as it is viewed from different vantages across the city.

Echoing the fluted columns of the bank’s exterior, the tower’s glass facade will be overlaid in ribbons of bronze, stainless steel, and black granite. Inside will be roughly 500 rental units, a mix of high-end apartments and 20 percent below-market rate housing.

During the LPC presentation, Pasquarelli noted that the new atrium will open up views to the bank off Flatbush Avenue, something that currently does not exist. The overall goal of the plan is to improve the landmark’s visibility from all surrounding streets while also optimizing light.

The presentation materials also show how if a 20-story as-of-right tower were to rise on the adjacent site of Junior’s Restaurant, the atrium would provide a visual break and prevent the two edifices from creating a massive wall.

Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects presenting this morning at the LPC

According to one LPC Commissioner, the reasons the project is successful are: 1) the restoration and adaptive reuse 2) the massing of the building and site planning and how it molds and shifts to nod at the primacy of the landmark and 3) the design itself, which is sensitive to materials, quality, and urban context. “It creates a spiral and a beautiful piece of architecture to mark an important node,” she said.

If all goes as planned, the project will finish sometime in 2019. Stay up-to-date on leasing and listings for 9 DeKalb Avenue Extension over at CityRealty. And view the team’s entire LPC presentation in PDF form here.

[Additional reporting provided by Diane Pham]

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• All 9 DeKalb Avenue coverage on 6sqft

At the southern edge of Boerum Hill, where the quaint brownstone enclave meets Park Slope and Gowanus, a trio of sleek residential buildings is taking shape by developer Adam America Real Estate. Along a single block, bound by Third and Fourth Avenues and Baltic and Warren Streets, the Brooklyn-centric firm is busy constructing a 31-unit condo building at Six Ten Warren, a 70-unit rental at 595 Baltic Street, and a 21-unit rental 577 Baltic Street. 6sqft visited the block to see how construction is progressing and put together all the renderings and details for the projects.

Six Ten Warren ↓
Issac & Strern Architects and Paris Forino Design
7 stories | 87 feet tall
Residential condominium
31 units | 47,050 gross square feet
Under construction: Early 2017

The Warren Street building is now nearly topped off at seven stories and will house 31 one- to four-bedroom condos averaging 1,150 square feet in area. The 40,000-square-foot development designed by Issac & Strern Architects will be clad in a timeless roman brick facade with projecting metal window surrounds. Australia-born interior designer Paris Forino will handle the interiors and homes will range from one-bedrooms with home offices to two townhouse-style garden duplexes and a triplex penthouses. Amenities will include a common rooftop terrace with outdoor barbecue area, fitness room, pet grooming station, children’s playroom, resident’s lounge with a screening area, kitchen, private parking garage with electric car changing stations, bicycle storage and a 24-hour attended lobby. Private storage and rooftop cabanas will be available for purchase. Sales will officially launch later this spring and prices are expected to begin at $950,000.

595 Baltic Street ↓
ND Architecture and Design PC
9 stories | 92 feet tall
Residential rental
70 units | 66,403 gross square feet
Under construction: Late 2016

Directly behind Six Ten Warren, an eclectic 70-unit rental building 595 Baltic Street is busy getting its skin and its interior fit out. The nine-floor, 66,000-square-foot building is designed by Nataliya Donskoy-led ND Architecture and Design PC and features a heterogeneous exterior of charcoal brick, orange panels, and expansive areas of window walls fronted by glass balconies. The periscopic two upper levels will be clad in orange and grey and house two duplex penthouses with views over Brooklyn. The seventh floor roof will have a common recreational space with outdoor exercise and lounge area, and the ground level will hold on-site parking for 34 vehicles and 1,500 square feet of commercial space.

577 Baltic Street ↓
Issac & Strern Architects
7 stories | 87 feet tall
Residential rental
21 units | 23,954 gross square feet
Under construction: Late 2016

Another rendering, matching the one posted on the construction fence, shows the exterior with orange accents.

Last and smallest is AARE’s 24,000-square-foot, 21-unit rental building at 577 Baltic Street. Now topped out, the seven-story composite steel and concrete structure was purchased by the developers for just $1.2 million in 2014 and replaces a one-story garage. Its humdrum grey exterior has also been designed by the prolific Issac & Stern Architects. Amenities include a 14-car garage, a roof deck and bike storage.

↓

The developments are among a handful Adam America and other developers are erecting along the upzoned Fourth Avenue corridor. Just across Fourth Avenue, JDS Development’s upcoming 11-story condominium at 613 Baltic Street has made its way above street level and its 41 units will ask between $900,000 and over $3 million. According to CityRealty, the median asking price of Boerum Hill condos stands at $1,051 per square foot. These three parcels are just four blocks south of Brooklyn’s busiest transit hub, Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center, near the restaurants and mom and pops of Park Slope, and close to a number of artistic hotspots in Gowanus.

Find future listings for Six Ten Warren, 595 Baltic Street, and 577 Baltic Street, Baltic Park Slope at CityRealty.

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All renderings © Adam America Real Estate; Construction shots via 6sqft

If you’re getting ready for this evening’s seder, you’ve likely picked up a box of matzo, and chances are pretty good that your unleavened bread comes from Streit’s. For 90 years the company produced matzo at the rate of almost 900 pounds an hour at 150 Rivington Street, but in early 2015 news hit that the country’s last family-owned matzo factory would be relocating to Rockland County. Developer Cogswell Realty bought the site for $31 million, embarking on plans for a condominium, and today, ironically timed with the first day of Passover, the first rendering of the project has been revealed.

The image was published in a New York Times article about Lower East Side institutions being replaced by condos. Design-build firm Gluck+ are the architects, and they’ve created a fairly standard, seven-story, glass box with some planted terraces along the top-floor setbacks. Though the design lacks any reference to the iconic business, the developers have said they plan to include Streit’s memorabilia in the lobby.

Image by Leo London/Flickr

The building will hold 45 one- and two-bedroom units, which will start at $975,000. This includes four duplexes on the seventh and eighth floors. It will have 13,000 square feet of retail, as well as a gym, bike storage, and a 1,750-square-foot residents’ roof terrace. Demolition will begin in the next week or two, and units are expected to hit the market in May. Find future listings for 150 Rivington Street at CityRealty.

[Via NYT]

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Within Downtown Brooklyn‘s detached island of urbanity between the Manhattan Bridge on-ramp and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, local architecture firm StudiosC has designed a modestly scaled, ground-up condominium at the corner of Bridge and Nassau Streets. Re-approved plans filed by the architect of record Karl Fischer detail an eight-story building with 12,000 square feet of gross floor area.

StudiosC’s project page says the building is envisioned as a statement to express its verticality and connect to its surrounding context seamlessly. It will present a modern facade of grey brick, light colored mortar joints, protruding corner windows, and two lines of juliet balconies. Inside will be nine condos crafted with a simple concept of what a luxury apartment can be. Homes will boast open layouts, large windows, wood floors, and windowed bathrooms with marble finishes. Construction of 187 Bridge is well underway with two stories remaining to frame out.  Occupancy is slated for late 2016.

The project’s five-block neighborhood, at the edge of Downtown Brooklyn and DUMBO has seen a surge of construction activity over the past decade. The site sits adjacent to the 58-unit condominium, Bridgeview Tower at 189 Bridge Street, which was finished in 2007. A two-bedroom home recently placed in contract had an asking price of $925,000 ($1,166 per square foot).

Find future listings for 187 Bridge at CityRealty.

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Along the southern border of Greenpoint, near Williamsburg’s McCarren Park, a once charming 19th-century school building at 533 Leonard Street is completing its adaptive reuse into 13 condominiums. Three two-bedroom units were just listed on the market this week asking an average price per square foot of $1,411, a bit above Greenpoint’s current average condo asking price of $1,152 per square foot. The 21,000-square-foot development is a synthesis of the Italianate-style Horace Greeley School married with a modern addition and gut-renovated interiors handled by local architects MDIM.

Prior to the overhaul, the building housed the Polish Legion of American Veterans who purchased the property in 1937

Construction shot of gut renovation. With the overhaul, the building is gaining 9,800 square feet of additional floor area and 20 feet of height

Largo Investments are handling the overhaul and have carved out 13 one- to three-bedroom homes, all with outdoor spaces and nearly half as duplexes. Characterful details such as original exposed brick, arched windows and wood beam ceilings are combined with modern finishes, heated floors, double-height ceilings and light-bathed spaces. The building will have seven apartments on its first floor, six of which are duplexes that are shared with either a mezzanine level above or the cellar level below. There are four units on the second level, two more on the third, and the roof will host a terrace and recreational area.

Here are two of the available units:

↑ Unit 1C is a 1,573-square-foot, two-bedroom, three-bathroom duplex with an ask of $2.25 million or $1,430 per square foot. The lower level contains two bedrooms that both provide direct access to a private rear year. The upper level contains the living areas along with a large terrace accessible from both the kitchen and the living room. See full listing here.

↑ Unit 2D is a 1,542 square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a 100-square-foot, street-facing terrace. The open layout accommodates a large 32-foot-long great room with double-height ceilings, and a staircase leads up to a small mezzanine level. The home is asking $2,52 million or $1,637 per square foot. See full listing here.

Find all listings for 553 Leonard at CityRealty.

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Near the corner of Union Avenue and Conselyea Street in East Williamsburg, a modestly sized six-floor condominium is underway. Addressed 476 Union Avenue, the project is designed and developed by the Meshberg Group, who purchased a four-story, walk-up building formerly at the lot for $2.4 million. Rising from the structural bones of the prior building, the 8,650-square-foot development will offer nine condos that the team proclaims are where “Parisian style meets industrial craftsmanship.”

The building’s exterior will present a clean, modern aesthetic of white brick, dark metal spandrels, and large gridded windows with black mullions. Transluscent glass-block walls run up the southern portion of the street-facing facade providing privacy to bedroom and bathroom spaces.

Kitchens are provided with hand-made custom cabinetry, carrara marble backsplashes and countertops, Bertazzoni Pro Series ovens and cooktops, Liebherr paneled fridges, Bosch paneled dishwashers, Hansgrohe hardware, and under-cabinet lighting. Bathrooms are sheathed in oversized limestone floor tile, marble wall tiles, marble vanity counters, oversized glass-enclosed showers and custom walnut illuminated medicine cabinets.

Homes will range from studios to two-bedrooms and many will feature private outdoor ares. Just last week, three homes hit the market: a first-floor studio priced at $550,000 ($1,247 psf); a 668-square-foot one-bedroom home priced at $835,000 ($1,250 psf), and a two-bedroom on the fifth floor asking $1.525 million ($1,427 psf).

Occupancy is slated for 2017. View listings at CityRealty.

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The Upper West Side has proven to be one of the most difficult areas to build, with a growing amount of land area contained in historic districts and much of the remainder constrained by tight zoning regulations. Over the years, its protective residents have been involved in the city’s most memorable development battles: fighting tooth and nail to reduce the scale of the Riverside South master plan; lessen shadows caused by the redevelopment of the New York Coliseum site (Time Warner Center); and more recently spearheading the downzoning of a 51-block swath of Broadway due to grievances caused by Extell’s Ariel East and West towers.

For the most part, the defensive strategy has allowed the neighborhood to retain much of its pre-war charms and human-scaled side streets. However, along its southern edge, where the buildings around Lincoln Center scale upwards to Midtown, zoning allowances are more generous. Two as-of-right towers are sure to ruffle some preservationists’ feathers and are poised to be the neighborhood’s biggest yet.

In 2014, the commercial-centric developers at SJP Properties purchased the former Lincoln Square Synagogue building at 200-208 Amsterdam Avenue for $275 million. The site is on axis to West 69th Street, and its small lot beside the urban renewal drabness of Lincoln Towers can accommodate nearly 400,000 square feet of floor area.

Late last year, The Real Deal reported that the Steven Pozycki-led company along with Mitsui Fudosan America planned to erect a 51-story, 112-unit condo tower “catering to New Yorkers and families from the suburbs looking to downsize and move into the city.” The tower will be among the tallest residential buildings on the Upper West Side, and its higher levels are sure to capture views of Central Park and the Hudson River. Building permits have yet to be filed, and no word on who the selected designers are, but SJP president Allen Goldman told TRD that the building will be “highly contextual with the architecture of the Upper West Side.”

Last month, the Observer reported that Japanese lender Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank provided a $160 million mortgage for the project, and as a sign that demolition/construction is nearing, a set of permits was recently filed, calling for scaffolding and a construction shed to be erected around the travertine-clad structure. The doomed building designed by the firm of Hausman & Rosemberg presents an exuberant, pin-wheel form and was finished in 1970. The congregation vacated the structure in 2013, moving a few doors down to a new home designed by Cetra/Ruddy Architects.

Three avenues east, at 36-44 West 66th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West, Extell Development and Megalith Capital have assembled a large development plot with rumors circulating of a possible super tower rising as high as 80 stories. In line with Extell’s tight-lipped nature pertaining to their real estate ventures, no official details on the project have yet to be released.

What we do know is that in 2014, Megalith purchased three offices buildings owned by the Walt Disney Company for $85 million. In July, TRD reported that Extell purchased the adjacent lot, home to the synagogue of Congregation Habonim for $45 million, where they plan to build a soaring condo tower along with Megalith from the combined 15,000 square foot footprint.

Preliminary new building permits were filed in November under the LLC Megalith Urban Park and list SLCE as the architects of record. The permits detail a 25-story, 185,000-square-foot residential tower with a home for Congregation Habonim at its base. The scope of the project could be increased with the purchase of up to 130,000 square feet of development rights available from the landmarked First Battery Armory next door, and 68,000 square feet available from the Jewish Guild Healthcare building behind the site at 15 West 66th Street.

There’s an indication that developers may purchase the Jewish Guild building outright and demolish it. Two permits were filed last month by Exell/Megalith’s architect, SLCE and another by la and surveying and engineering company. Also, last month The Observer reported that GuildNet, a major tenant of the building, will be relocating to Midtown.

Last year the team completed demolition of the parcel’s low-rise structures, and currently an army of earthmovers are mobilized at the site ready to capture an unknown amount of air space. To seize the coveted Central Park views as the developer’s “Urban Park LLC” alludes to, the tower must rise at least 300 feet high to eclipse the rooflines of The Europa condo and the Park Ten co-op.

See future listings for 200 Amsterdam Avenue and 36-44 West 66th Street at CityRealty.

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A unique mixed-use development in West Chelsea may be the paradigm of what new development in Manhattan could aspire to. Combining new construction and rehabilitation, and marrying ostentatious high-end condos with affordable rentals and an art museum/gallery, the project dubbed Chelsea SkyBox will satiate a wide spectrum of urbanites.

The 250-foot tower will rise directly south of Annabelle Selldorf’s metal-face condo 200 Eleventh Avenue (aka the “Sky garage”) and will host ten full-floor apartments plus a spectacular five-story penthouse that developer Jonathan Leitersdorf told the Journal he will ultimately occupy. The project also will rehabilitate the corner SRO building next door known as the Chelsea Highline Hotel. The ground floors of both buildings will be shared, and there will be 15,000-square- feet of commercial space that will have 30-foot-high ceilings and accommodate an art museum and a private gallery to contain works by Picasso, Keith Haring, Kandinsky, and Anish Kapoor.

Spearheaded by Israeli investor, architect, and art collector Jonathan Leitersdorf, with development partner John Jacobson, the site at 188 Eleventh Avenue was secured by way of a $10 million, 99-year lease in 2012. Located at the western edge of the Chelsea Art District, overlooking Hudson River Park and Chelsea Piers, the project’s block has been almost entirely redeveloped over the past decade with the re-imagined High Line park that bisects it and 11 ground-up residential buildings, including the underway FitzRoy, Tamarkin’s 508 West 24th Street, and 560 West 24th Street.

Last month, the developers filed permits to move ahead with a gut-rehabilitation and a fifth-floor addition of the former SRO structure. In partnership with Clinton Housing Development Company (CHDC), the building will house 19 permanently affordable units. The building made headlines last year when the Post reported that two cab drivers were able to take advantage of an arcane rent stabilization law that allowed one of the cabbies to secure a monthly rent of $226 for life.

Construction permits for the ground-up, 60,000-square-foot tower were approved last year with KOOP Architecture + Media listed as the architects of record. Filed zoning diagrams showing a 290-foot tall, 19-story glass tower and are in line with renderings displayed on interior designer Ronen Givati​’s project page. All units will have balconies, there will be a large cantilever on the seventh floor, and the T-shaped penthouse unit will have several terraces including a large roofdeck with a swimming pool.

Likely with art-loving buyers in mind, the fourth level will hold the residential sky lobby with access to a lush sculpture garden that will unfurl onto the roof of the adjacent rental building and will be outfitted with a grove of small trees, reflecting pools, and a one-story-high mural visible from street level.

Above are ten full-floor apartments with floor-to-ceiling glass exposures and pairs of “sunset” and “sunrise” terraces. The open layout locates living and dining spaces towards the western Hudson River-facing side, while the four bedrooms face the more intimate southern and interior block exposures.

The tower’s five uppermost floors will be a magnificent penthouse with 30-foot-tall ceilings to be occupied by Leitersdorf. According to WSJ, the 14,000 square foot home will have six bedrooms and baths made from giant slabs of onyx, polished concrete floors, and a 60-foot-long rooftop swimming pool made of Brazilian blue marble and an adjoining teak deck with rubber joints perched on the roof.

To view future listings for 188 Eleventh Avenue, visit CityRealty.

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All Renderings © Ronen Givati; Construction shots via 6sqft

Within the Empire State Building’s five o’clock shadow, an eruption of glossy residential high-rises are nipping at the dame’s feet. Embracing a thoroughfare most familiar for its commercial connotations, the latest tower to ascend is a 33-story condo simply known by its address, 172 Madison Avenue. The 130,000-square-foot skyscraper is being developed by Tessler Developments and is among a half-dozen residential buildings planned for a central, yet undefined neighborhood that is almost Murray Hill, but not quite NoMad. Its topped off concrete frame rises nearly 450 feet above its East 33rd street corner, which was previously occupied by a ubiquitous clump of commercial, low-slung masonry structures.

Now with its debut pegged for early next year, the symmetrically-massed tower designed by Karl Fischer Architects is being dressed in its sparkly coat of reflective glass that is accentuated by robust onyx-colored frames. And along with this debut, comes new renderings of the triplex penthouse dubbed the SkyHouse, which is a massive marble palace with two outdoor pools.

While not the most distinctive of condo-towers, its handsome proportions, solid street wall, and lack of parking make the tower a welcome addition to the city-scape.

Sixty-nine finely-appointed homes are being assembled inside, with the sales team informing us that more than half are already in contract. The foremost residences will be the four penthouses, one mansion, and the triplex SkyHouse with commanding views of the Empire State Building and skyline.

Building amenities will include a 24-hour doorman, concierge by Abigail Michaels, and spacious lobby featuring a clay mosaic from a South African artist. The cellar levels will have the “Club Room” with billiards and a wet bar, a children’s playroom, a 67-foot-long swimming pool with Jacuzzi, yoga room, sauna and locker rooms, a pet spa, and bike storage. Alongside the tower will be a midblock public space illuminated with a woven brass wall.

According to CityRealty, at 172 Madison, there are currently nine apartments on the market with an average asking price of $2,511 per square foot. Interiors crafted by Shamir Shah Design will be outfitted with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, 8-inch-wide stained wood floors, 11+ foot ceilings, and eight-foot doors throughout. There will be no more than three residences per floor, and all units will possess corner windows. Homes will be configured with a smart system for control of climate, lighting, shades and music.

Buyers can select two styles of kitchens that come in a white or dark palette. They will all be equipped with Miele dishwashers and stainless steel cooktops and ovens, and Subzero wine storage.

Bathroom floors will be finished in a classic mosaic tile pattern and are specified with Dornbracht fixtures.

The Mansion unit is situated along the third floor setback and spans the entire floor, with 3,000 square feet of interior space, 18-foot ceilings, and a 3,000 square-foot wrap-around terrace with a 50-foot-long pool, one of the city largest private pools, as 6sqft previously reported. The four-bedroom abode is currently on the market for $13 million, or $4,395 per square foot.

Above the four penthouses, is a spectacular three-level, 5,623-square-foot palace above the city dubbed “the SkyHouse.” Yet to hit to officially hit the market, renderings posted on the official building website and on ODA Architects’ website show a jaw-dropping space of triple-height ceilings sheathed in quarry’s worth of marble and accompanied by nearly 3,000 square feet of outdoor space that includes a wraparound roof deck with two outdoor pools.

L to R: Design by Frank Williams Architects, SLCE Architects, & Karl Fischer Architects

Once stymied by the Recession, the underway project is at least the site’s third design iteration since it was cleared in 2008. Then, the Russian-based developers NMP Group released plans for an elegant environmentally-conscious tower designed by the late architect Frank Williams that would feature a restaurant at ground level and 100 hotel suites and condominium units above. After defaulting on a loan in 2011, the site was nearly wrested away by California-based CIM Group until real estate investor Yitzchak Tessler rescued the project from foreclosure. The Midtown South area encircling the Empire State Building was already familiar territory for the developer, with three ground-up Gwathmey Siegel-designed condominiums recently erected nearby: 400 Fifth Avenue, 323 Park Avenue South, and 240 Park Avenue South.

Excavation began in early 2015 from the 11,000-square-foot lot that was beginning to sprout trees instead of re-bar. In the interim, a spate of residential towers have risen or been announced near the site. Across 33rd Street, the once stalled condominium project known as the Sundari Lofts & Towers was revived by JD Carlisle in 2012 and is now the finished rental building One Sixty Madison. In 2013, The Dylan began leasing at Fifth Avenue near 33rd Street and at 145 Madison, demolition has begun to build a 21-story rental tower. JD Carlisle is pursuing another foray into the area, beginning demolition on a block-through site for a 800-foot-tall condo tower at 126 Madison Avenue. Lastly, near the southeast corner of Madison and 31st Street, foundation work is well underway for a 30-story condo tower at 30 East 31st Street.

The area is still relatively new territory for large ground up condo buildings with only two towers, Sky House and 325 Fifth Avenue, haven risen over the last decade. Current asking prices at Sky House average at $2,084 per square foot with a one-bedroom priced at $2 million. At 325 Fifth, the average price per square foot for available units stands at $1,839, with nine one-bedrooms listed n the market starting from 1.125 million.

In future New York, these 40-story towers will feel quaint. © CityRealty

To find listings for 172 Madison Avenue, visit CityRealty.

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Renderings © Tessler Developments, Karl Fischer Architects, and ODA Architects. Construction shots via 6sqft.

Back in January, 6sqft reported that the busybodies at Extell Development filed permits to demolish a string of six tumble-turned walk-up buildings between 3 and 13 West 46th Street in Midtown. Now, as expected, the Gary Barnett-led firm has filed permits to demolish the Warren & Wetmore-designed corner building at 562 Fifth Avenue and a somewhat incongruous Tudor-style building at 564 Fifth Avenue.

While none of the condemned buildings are extraordinary in design, 562 Fifth Avenue is perhaps a more tasteful affair than much of the schlock going up these days. Designed by the same architects as Grand Central Terminal, the slivery 13-story commercial building was once known as the I. Miller Building and features intricately ornamented spandrel areas, a pedimented roofline, and an unoriginal albeit charming Fifth Avenue storefront.

The soon to be gone I. Miller Building at 562 Fifth Avenue (L); Caroline S. Harper mansion that previously stood at the site (R)

Just last week, Untapped Cities published a thorough history of the building site going back to when it was the four-story mansion of Caroline S. Harper. They report that in 1909, florist Charles Thorley moved his blossoming flower business to the location and made extensive renovations that included “adding French architecture, painting the building white with green trim, and placing green vines and shrubs all along the Fifth Avenue side.” The American Florist reported in 1916, “the whole effect was stunning and bound to arrest the attention of the thousands that pass by every hour.” Let’s hope whatever Extell produces will result in half the interest.

The other building now officially on the chopping block is the Tudor-style building at 564-568 Fifth Avenue that was once the home of Edmund L. Goodman’s menswear store known as Finchley’s Castle. Blogger Dayton in Manhattan wrote that in 1924, Goodman zeroed in on the Fifth Avenue prime address and commissioned architect Beverly King to re-imagine the building with an English-like atmosphere to match “the tweeds and ties and King produced.” While the building’s ground level was butchered in the 1970s, its upper levels remained intact, “echoing Elizabethan England.”

More recent view of the assemblage

These two latest filings bring the official count of of doomed pre-wars to ten buildings. In March, Extell submitted an application to raze a portly 13-story building at 2 West 47th Street that the Time’s Christopher Gray reported was at one point a kind of architectural center. In addition, demolition applications were recently reprocessed for 570 and 574 Fifth Avenue, garnering the developer almost 125 feet of coveted Fifth Avenue frontage and bringing the footprint to nearly 30,000 square feet.

Rendering of what Thor Equities planned at 564 Fifth Avenue before selling to Extell

While no one knows what exactly the clandestine developer has planned, the Post reported that they may be considering an “internal” shopping mall within the development’s podium with an an apartment tower or hotel rising above.

RELATED:

• Extell Files Permits to Demolish Six Midtown Buildings for a New Mega Development
• Revealed: Central Park Tower Shows Off Its Retail Base
• Extell’s 831-Foot-Tall One Manhattan Square Begins Its Climb Above Chinatown

At First Avenue and 89th Street on the Upper East Side, 31 floors of spacious, light-filled homes have been reintroduced to the market. In a building previously known as the Post Toscana, 199 rental apartments have been upgraded and enlarged into 156  one- to three-bedroom residences fashioned by acclaimed interior designer Paris Forino. Now dubbed 389 E 89, the tower is the latest in a flurry of top-shelf rental buildings re-branded as affordable condos with high-end finishes.

389 E 89 ‘s one-bedroom homes begin under $1 million, and available two-bedrooms start at $1.59 million– prices unheard of for new construction condos in Manhattan. The building’s original architect Ismael Leyva (designer of the residences of the Time Warner Center and the Park Imperial) configured several loft-style apartments with 11-foot ceilings at the building’s base–a rarity on the Upper East Side. Above the five-floor podium rests a sheer, glass cornered tower, culminating in a trellis-like cornice.

Updated building amenities include a 24/7 concierge and doorman, fitness center, lounge with adjacent private outdoor event space, children’s playroom, bike room, and private storage. Three-hundred and twelve feet above Manhattan, residents can “chillax” on a landscaped rooftop terrace with a 360-degree sweep of the Manhattan skyline and  surrounding area. The East River and Robert F. Kennedy Bridge fill views to the east, while Central Park and the cityscape captivate western onlookers.

Construction of Citizen 360 well underway across East 89th Street.

389 E 89 was originally finished in 2003 and developed through a joint-venture between Veronika Hacket’s Clarrett Group and Atlanta-based Post Properties. Magnum Real Estate Group, which is headed by Ben Shaoul, picked up the building along with sister Gramercy building Post Luminaria for $270 million in 2014. Like 389 E 89, Post Luminaria has been rebranded into affordable high-end condominiums, boasting a new name, The Luminaire. Current availabilities there show one-bedrooms begin at $1.1 million and two-beds starting from $1.975 million.

The building is within short walking distance to Central Park and Carl Schurz Park and is surrounded by acclaimed local restaurants, cultural institutions, and notable primary schools. Several ground-up residential towers are taking root in the area, including the SHoP-designed Citizen 360 condominium across 89th Street and DDG’s 180 East 88th Street nearby.

To view listings for 389 E 89, visit CityRealty.

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• HOK Architects Files Permits for 21-Story UES Condo Tower, Will Yield New Subway Entrance
• Units Come Online for 180 East 88th Street, Tallest Building Between 72nd Street and Albany

Interior Photography © Evan Joseph

On the heels of the news that Hudson Yards will add $18.9 billion to the city’s GDP and the reconfirmation that the developers will build an iconic $200 million sculpture at the center of the plan’s plaza, Related quietly launched a new Hudson Yards Living website, providing general information for prospective residents and a few new images of the $20 billion master plan.

15 Hudson Yards in the foreground; 35 Hudson Yards on the left

In the first phase of the plan, upon the eastern rail yards between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, construction of two massive apartment-filled towers has already begun.

First to arrive will be 15 Hudson Yards, situated at the corner of Eleventh Avenue and West 30th Street alongside the High Line and abutting the Culture Shed. The concrete superstructure is slowly beginning its climb skyward and will ultimately stand 910 feet tall and contain a mix of 390 condos and rentals units. As 6sqft reported last month, Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group are the designers, and they crafted a gracefully curving tower culminating in a distinctive glass quatrefoil. The tower will seek LEED Gold-accreditation and is slated for completion in 2018.

Hudson Yard’s 4.5-acre public square will host a $200 million sculpture designed by Thomas Heatherwick

35 Hudson Yards

Directly north of 15 Hudson Yards, across a 4.5-acre public square designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, will be 35 Hudson Yards. The 72-floor building is designed by David Childs of Skidmore Owings & Merill and is distinguished by a curtain wall composed of vertical stripes of limestone and glass. Its classic silhouette of several setbacks climaxes in a curvaceous glass lantern.

Standing more than 1,000 feet tall, the building will have the highest residences in Hudson Yards and features three floors of fitness amenities that include a basketball court, swimming pool, and a flagship Equinox Fitness Club. There will be offices and a hotel on the lower levels and 137 residences above. A 2012 press release announced that Related Companies will move its offices into the tower when complete in 2019. And Related’s chairman, Stephen Ross, plans to move his personal residence from the Time Warner Center to the top floor of the new tower.

On the western rail yard, phase two of the Hudson Yards master plan will include seven residential buildings that are tentatively slated to be four condo towers and three rental buildings. Estimated to amount to nearly 4,000 units, their scheduled completion dates range from mid-2019 through the end of 2025.

Find future listings for 15 Hudson Yards and 35 Hudson Yards at CityRealty.

RELATED:

• Study: Hudson Yards Will Add $18.9 Billion to the City’s GDP
• Curvaceous ‘Morph Tower’ Begins Its Rise at 15 Hudson Yards, Abutting the Culture Shed
• Skyline Wars: What’s Rising in Hudson Yards, the Nation’s Largest Construction Site
• All Hudson Yards coverage on 6sqft

Renderings © Visualhouse; Construction shots via 6sqft

After a unanimously approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in June 2011, the Morris Adjmi-designed condo building at 83 Walker Street has fully risen and is nearly completely adorned with its creamy, concrete facade. The nine-story, 19,000-square-foot building is being developed by Brooklyn-based Abra Construction Corp. and will house a duplex unit at the ground and cellar levels and eight full-floor residences above. Its narrow 24-foot-wide lot is within the fast-changing eastern extents of Tribeca (formerly Chinatown) and sits within the Tribeca East Historic District. The realized project is slightly higher than zoning allows and had to seek approval from the City Planning Commission in addition to the LPC.

Reportedly inspired by the work of artist Rachel Whiteread’s 1993 piece, “House,” the contextual project’s most distinguishing feature is its concrete facade resembling an inversion of the typical downtown cast-iron building. Like the nearly two-century old building method patented and developed by James Bogardus, 83 Walker’s facade is assembled with columns, lintels, and window arches individually cast. Instead of columns curving out from the building, they are indented into it, and windows that are typically recessed will jut out from the front. It’s as though the building across the street had been pressed against this one while it was still drying. According to the Architect’s Newspaper, Adjmi told the commission, “This makes you think of how these buildings were built, from the initial casting to being assembled as components…So this is really taking that and inverting it so it becomes a record of the process.”

View future condo listings for 83 Walker Street at CityRealty.

RELATED:

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• Morris Adjmi’s 465 Pacific Street Tops Out, Only One Penthouse Unit Remains
• First Look at Toll Brothers’ Chelsea Condo Designed by Morris Adjmi

Rendering of 45 Park Place via Williams New York (L); Aerial view of 45 Park Place in the downtown skyline created by CityRealty

Soho Properties has received $219 million in construction loans for a $174 million luxury condominium project at 45 Park Place in Tribeca, according to a statement from Manhattan developer Sharif El-Gamal, The Real Deal reports. The deal was funded by the London branch of Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) and Kuwait-based Warba Bank, with Saudi investment firm MASIC providing a $45 million mezzanine loan and Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo serving as documentation agent. The developer had previously secured $33 million in financing from Madison Realty Capital in 2014.

The funding will be used for the residential tower and an Islamic cultural museum to be built next door at 51 Park Place. The condo project, to be designed by SOMA Architects, will be a 665-foot, 43-story tower with 50 high-end apartments, including two penthouses on the top four floors. Ismael Leyva Architects is listed as the architect of record.

45 Park Place with 111 Murray to the left, created by CityRealty

El-Gamal plans to build a three-story Islamic museum, designed by Jean Nouvel, on the adjacent property. The developer was the subject of controversy over plans announced in 2010 to create an Islamic center at the same site; critics objected to the idea of a “Ground Zero Mosque” so close to the World Trade Center site. That project was abandoned in favor of the residential development, as 6sqft revealed last July. The new financing for the deal is “Sharia-compliant,” meaning it complies with Islamic laws that governing lending and borrowing.

The condo offering plan with average asking prices of more than $3,000 per square foot and a projected sellout of $391.9 million has been approved by the state Attorney General’s office. In addition to residences the project will offer a gym, pool, and kids’ playroom and the property will feature a 2,821 square-foot public plaza, retail and public green space. The condos are slated to be completed by 2018 with Stribling set to launch sales in late spring.

Stay informed about construction and listings for 45 Park Place on CityRealty.

[Via TRD]

RELATED:

• New Details and Final Rendering for 45 Park Place, Condo Tower at ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Site
• Tribeca’s 45 Park Place Site Cleared to Make Way for Slender 660-Foot Skyscraper
• Sharif El-Gamal Commissions Jean Nouvel to Design Islam Museum Next to WTC
• All 45 Park Place Coverage

Madison Equities and Pizzarotti Group filed a new building application yesterday to construct a 1,115-foot supertall skyscraper at 45 Broad Street in the heart of the Financial District. When finished, reportedly in 2018  (good luck with that), the tower will be the second tallest building in lower Manhattan after 1 WTC, and the sixth tallest in the city.

As detailed by the application, the tower will comprise 371,634 gross square-feet of floor area spread across 66 floors. Listed are 150 units, a bit less than the 245 condo-residences Pizzarotti CEO, Rance MacFarland said there would be earlier this year. Supposedly, the building will cater to “entry- and mid-level buyers” with relatively conservative prices of  below $2,000 per square foot on average. To afford the maximum amount of residences with coveted views of the harbor and the skyline, apartments will begin on the 15th floor where they are configured at four-units per floor up to the 33rd level. Floors 35-51, 53,55 and 57 will have three units per floor and floors 52, 54, and 58 just two units. Floors 61 and 62 will host two duplex aeries and the uppermost residential floor, 62, will house a single full floor penthouse that will be the highest residence in hemisphere outside of Billionaires’ Row. Amenities on the lower, view-deprived floors will include  a 60-foot indoor lap pool, a gym, a garden, a pet spa, a game room, bike room and other entertainment areas.

CetraRuddy

New York-based CetraRuddy are listed as the architects. The versatile firm is awash in projects of various scales and programs and are the architects behind some of the city’s most successful residential projects, such as One Madison, the Walker Tower, and the conversion of 443 Greenwich Street in Tribeca. Recently, CityRealty sat down with the firm’s co-founder, Nancy Ruddy to discuss the firm’s hands-on approach and the firm’s design flexibility which allows the property to inform the design rather than imposing any signature style. Renderings of 45 Broad unveiled earlier this year show a three-tiered glass spire adorned by vertical gold-colored accents. A mid-section of thatched latticework resolves the transition between the more slender lower levels and the wider cantilevering upper half. The tower culminates in an angled filigreed crown that is sure to be a prominent marker on the downtown skyline.

The skyscraper is one of more than 20 supertall skyscrapers (+1,000-feet) in various stages of development for the city. In February, we reported that the team has wasted no time getting started with soil testing vehicles already present on the long vacant site.

Images: Views off 45 Broad recreated by CityRealty with Google Earth (top); Project site. Behind the lot is the rental The Exchange at 25 Broad Street and the condominium 15 William NY (bottom)

View future listings for 45 Broad Street at CityRealty.

RELATED:

• Renderings Revealed for Downtown Supertall 45 Broad Street
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• Groundwork Begins at Downtown Supertall 45 Broad Street

The go-to move for building taller than zoning allows is snatching up some air rights, but at 180 East 88th Street in Yorkville, developer DDG Partners found an obscure loophole to increase their building’s height. Back in 2014, as the Times explains, DDG received approvals to slice off a four-foot-wide lot from the 30-foot-deep site. This became an official taxable lot, but because it provided a buffer between the building and the street, it allowed the building to avoid typical zoning for structures touching the street, rising to its 521-foot height (60 feet taller than would have been permitted otherwise) and having its entrance on Third Avenue. Now that the motive has become clear, local residents and elected officials are not happy, and adding fuel to the fire is the fact that DDG contributed at least $19,900 to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

When the Department of Buildings first issued permits for the project in March 2014, they allowed the developer to utilize the Third Avenue lot, as well as the adjacent lot on 88th Street because it was more than 30 feet deep, “a size that could be developed into a separate building.” But it was after this that the developer received approval for the new lot, which in plans is referred to as a “rear yard” that would be a garden for residents that’s open to the street.

Upper East Side Councilman Ben Kallos feels that this “unbuildable lot” may create a “dangerous precedent for a new and dangerous loophole.” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is also speaking out against the city’s approvals, saying “At first glance, this project looks like a prime example where the Department of Buildings has failed to enforce the law. The zoning here is what it is, not what the developer wishes it were.” In response, the DOB is reviewing its rulings, noting that they’re “auditing this project for compliance with the city’s construction codes and zoning resolution.”

The 88th Street entrance

The lobby

An interior view

Construction is already underway at the tower, which will be the tallest building between 72nd Street and Albany. Sales have also commenced for the 48 condo units, ranging from $3.2 million two-bedrooms to $15.5 million four-bedrooms. To view listings for 180 East 88th Street, visit CityRealty.

[Via NYT]

RELATED:

• Units Come Online for 180 East 88th Street, Tallest Building Between 72nd Street and Albany
• Loophole Allows Developers to Build ‘Skyscrapers on Stilts’ to Give Residents Ocean Views
• City Defends Supertalls, Won’t Limit Size of Midtown Towers

All Renderings created by MARCH for DDG

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal profiled broker-turned-developer Michael Shvo and revealed his development company SHVO now has more than $4 billion dollars worth of projects in the works for the city. While many are still in planning stages and have yet to be released to the public, construction is moving ahead on a trio of condominium developments along Manhattan’s western spine — the Getty, 125 Greenwich Street, and the 565 Broome Street. While varied in neighborhood and scale, they all enlist high-caliber architects and will bring Shvo’s characteristic high level of attention to detail and “pursuit of perfection.”

The Getty 
239 Tenth Avenue
12 stories | 137 feet
Victor Development Group | Peter Marino Architects
8 Residential Condos | 47,000 square feet
Completion expected in 2017

Teaming up with the Moshe Shuster-led Victor Homes, Shvo snagged a prime West Chelsea corner site at Tenth Avenue and 24th Street for $23.5 million in 2014, or more than $850 per square foot, then a record for the area. Overlooking the High Line and a few blocks south of Hudson Yards, the 5,500-square-foot lot previously held a Getty gas station (hence its name) and is hugged by Della Valle Bernheimer‘s stainless steel condominium 245 Tenth Avenue.

With Peter Marino at the helm (“the leather daddy of luxury”), Shvo envisioned a game-changing development that would “combine art, luxury residential, design and architecture,” as he told WSJ in 2013. “It is not just walls and a kitchen and a bathroom, it is about creating a true luxury brand, at once authentic, unique and self-defining when encountered.” The building will be Peter Marino’s largest in the city and renderings depict an exterior resembling a grey-scaled Mondrian or an abstracted birds-eye view of Manhattan traffic. Two lines of balconies are seamlessly integrated into the quilted facade, and even the rooftop mechanical bulkhead is encased with the geometrical patterning.

With art-collecting buyers in mind, the design of the interiors are inspired by the district’s eclectic art scene. the decidedly boutique affair will house a nary eight residences spread across the building’s 47,000 square feet of floor area. There will be a fitness center and residential storage in the sub-cellar, and the cellar through second level will host commercial gallery spaces along with the residential lobby. Two duplex apartments are to occupy the third and fourth floors, five full-floor homes on floors 5-9, and the 10th and 11th floors will be home to a sole two-level penthouse with a rooftop terrace. West-facing balconies and windows will have views of the High Line and beyond to the Hudson River.

For future sales and listings at The Getty, visit CityRealty.

↓↓↓

125 Greenwich Street 
22 Thames Street / 78 Trinity Place
88 Stories
Residential Condominium | 273 Units
Rafael Viñoly Architects
SHVO | New Valley | Bizzi + Partners Development
Completion expected in 2018

Shvo’s largest project to date will be a lithe 88-story condo at 125 Greenwich Street designed by Argentinian-born architect Rafael Viñoly. Developed in consortium with New Valley and Bizzi + Partners Development, the nearly 1,000-foot supertall will be an elegant addition to the celebrated lower Manhattan skyline. Proposed to house 273 high-end condominiums and three floors of amenities, the Douglas Elliman-led sales team is opening the marketing center later this year at nearby One World Trade Center, giving potential buyers a sense of the panoramic views many of the units will offer. Earlier this month, the teaser site debuted, announcing that residences will feature customizable interiors and that sales will commence this fall. Foundation work is still slowly moving forward and the tower is slated to open early 2018.

CityRealty

Prices for the residences have yet to be released, but units will range from a 400-square-foot studio to a 3,625-square-foot three-bedroom. According to data from CityRealty, closed condo sale prices hit a record high last month with a price per square foot of $1,897, and the median asking price for the 266 condos standing at $1,895,000 or $1,722 per square foot.

Earlier this month at NYCxDESIGN, Brooklyn–based Snarkitecture built a model of 125 Greenwich Street and the adjacent WTC towers with the surrounding cityscape represented as an undulating landscape of white fiberglass rods.

For future listings at 125 Greenwich Street Street, visit Cityrealty.

↓↓↓

565 Broome Street 
30 stories | 290 feet
Residential Condominium | 115 Units
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
SHVO | Bizzi & Partners Development |Halpern Real Estate Ventures | Aronov Development
Completion expected in 2017

One of downtown’s most anticipated developments, 565 Broome Street is being pushed ahead by SHVO in partnership with Halpern Real Estate Ventures and Aronov Development. The two-winged tower is being design by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano and is distinguished by its transparency, softly rounded corners, a private porte-cochère, and a skylit lobby featuring a small grove of birch trees.

Now financed, ground and excavation work are in full swing at the block-front site between Broome and Watts Streets. The ground floor will provide a number of retail spaces and residents of the building’s collection of homes will be bathed in perks that include a fitness center, swimming pool, tenants’ storage, a porte cochere, and automated parking. Mid to upper levels will have impressive views over low-rise Soho and Tribeca towards the Hudson River. The development recently launched a teaser site bearing a new rendering. Mention of Shvo’s names is mysteriously absent from the site.

For future listings at 565 Broome Street, visit CityRealty.

+++

RELATED:

• Checking in on Downtown’s Next Supertall, 125 Greenwich Street by Rafael Viñoly Architects
• New Views Inside and Out of Renzo Piano’s First New York Residential Building
• Skyline Wars: In Lower Manhattan, A New Downtown Is Emerging

The future of the Bowery’s “lighting district” continues to dim as Emmut Properties plans a second mixed-use building along the former Skid Row still home to more than a dozen lighting stores. Emmut’s latest Lower East Side foray is planned at 331 Broome Street. According to the developer’s website, the new building will ascend eight floors and feature ground level retail, hotel suites and apartments above.

The 7,000-square-foot lot was picked up by Emmut in early 2014 for $13.5 million, and the development will replace a three-story structure now home to Sololite Lighting and Galaxy Lighting. The posted rendering shows the building will have a faux-loft appearance of red brick and industrial, multi-pane sash windows, details that are somewhat incongruous to the Bowery’s unpretentious 19th-century atmosphere. No building or demolition applications have been filed, but Emmut’s page states construction is slated to begin late in 2016 or early 2017 and debut at the end of 2018.

Across the street from the development, at 134-142 Bowery, Emmut is moving ahead with a similarly programmed eight-story project that is replacing a trio of buildings, including a 200-year-old set of buildings that housed the New York Lighting store. According to a WSJ story, 15 years ago there were about 30 lighting stores lining the Bowery just south of Delancey Street. Since then, the number of retailers has gradually decreased due to the surge in value of downtown real estate.

This isn’t your great grandpapa’s Lower East Side. © CityRealty

Find future listings for the apartments at 331 Broome Street at CityRealty.

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Rendering via the Rinaldi Group

After getting a peak of its entryway facade in March and announcing that rocker/actor Lenny Kravitz will mold its interior residences, we now have our first full look at DHA Capital‘s 35-unit condominium 75 Kenmare Street. Situated at the corner of Mulberry Street in Nolita, the upcoming seven-story development converts and expands upon a parking garage which DHA, in partnership with AMS Acquisitions and First Atlantic Capital, purchased for $50 million last year. Manhattan-based architect Andre Kikoski designed a sumptuous masonry skin composed of “richly textured and finely scaled” cast-formed concrete, and the apartments are expected to go from $1.7 million to more than $12 million.

The building that 75 Kenmare is replacing

The building is situated in the heart of the Chinatown-Little Italy National Historic District, which mandates that more than 50.01% of the new structure’s exterior be made of masonry. Inspired by the varying patterns of hand-laid brick cladding the district’s century-old structures, Kikoski sought to make a striking contemporary statement to complement the neighborhood’s architectural treasures.

His webpage states:

I studied ways in which hand laid brick is used to create detail and expression in historic buildings around NoLita, as well as innovative ways brick has been used in bringing pattern, texture and rhythm. My design solution references these precedents without repeating them, in the process transforming the literal building blocks of Manhattan. Most notably, I reinterpret the bricks themselves in cast formed concrete, imagining a richly textured and finely scaled surface with thoughtfully contemplated aggregate, color, and a surface patina. Vertical panels cast a series of narrow channels in three unique widths to define the architecture of the street wall. Each unique width is in a specific vertical plane that is set consistently with respect to the other two, and the pattern of channels is staggered randomly to create a stunning contemporary play of dimension, shade and shadow.

Deeply inset windows are accented by champagne-colored panels, and the building is topped by a modern cornice and a setback penthouse floor. It rises to the neighborhood’s height limit of 75 feet, and its ground level will host a commercial space. Its cellar and sub-cellar levels will provide 150 parking spaces and a short-list of amenities including a fitness center, a communal rooftop terrace, and bike storage.

Interiors by Kravitz Design have yet to be revealed, but Lenny, a downtown local, founded the design firm in 2003, with a bold aesthetic inspired by 1970s New York club culture and the easygoing California music scene of the same decade. The building’s teaser site recently launched, and Douglas Elliman’s Ecklund Gomes Team will be marketing the units, a collection of one- to four-bedroom homes ranging in price from approximately $1.7 million to more than $12 million. In April, The Real Deal reported that the expected sellout is pegged at $127 million.

Find future listings for 75 Kenmare Street at CityRealty.

Renderings © DHA Capital | Andre Kikoski

Here’s our first look at the Morris Adjmi-designed condos slated for the southwest corner of West 13th Street and University Place in Greenwich Village. The project, tentatively addressed 34 East 13th Street, rubs shoulders with Annabelle Selldorf’s 21 East 12th Street condo development, which replaced the large building that held Bowlmor Lanes. Last year, NYREJ reported that Ranger Properties and Sagamore Capital purchased the three-building corner assemblage for $22 million or $1,100 per square foot, one of the most expensive residential development transactions ever downtown.

Former view of the site next to Bowlmor

Current view of the site

The 3,325-square-foot site once held the University Place Gourmet Deli, Wet Nose Doggy Gym, and Bennie Louie Chinese Laundry. Starting in the 1930s, the office space at 116 University had been used by leftist groups such as the Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World.

Now with all that history and charm hastily cleared away, excavation is moving forward. Approved permits detail a seven-story building containing ground-level retail spaces and six floor-through condominiums above. In all, the building will encompass 22,995 gross square feet of area and rise 85-feet high to the top of its mechanical bulkhead. The exterior rendering posted on the construction fence shows that Adjmi will wield his simple modern-meets-classical aesthetic, facing the building with a grid of square and rectangular windows sunken deeply into a light masonry facade – like 432 Park but with more depth.

From L to R: 21E12, 17 East 12th Street, and 12 East 13th Street

Greenwich Village vs Manhattan average condo price per square foot. Courtesy CityRealty.

Four new condominium developments are underway in the immediate area. Directly adjacent to the project is the cleared site of the building that held the beloved Bowlmor Lanes bowling alley, the bar Pressure and a large parking garage. Billy Macklowe, son of the legendary developer who dreamed up 432 Park, tapped Annabelle Selldorf to design a 52-unit condominium tower that will soar more than 300 feet and rise from an incongruous two-story podium. This is the second time Selldorf and Adjmi projects are rubbing shoulder to shoulder in Manhattan. The two firms recently finished the residential projects 10 Bond Street and 372 Lafayette Street on a single Noho blockfront between Great Jones and Bond Streets.

Groundwork starting at Billy Macklowe’s 21E12

Just west of the the projects are two recent condo conversions with new penthouse additions atop. 12 East 13th Street finished last year and was developed by DHA Capital and Continental Properties and designed by CetraRuddy. All but one of its eight units have been accounted for, and they’ve closed for an average of $2,313 per square foot. The five-bedroom penthouse is the sole unit on the market and is asking $19.5 million or ($3,419 psf). At 17 East 12th Street, Rigby Asset Management is finishing construction on a nine-unit condominium designed by Bromley Caldari Architects with Richard Mishan handling the interiors. Two units are on the market priced at an average of $2,028 per square foot.

Find future listings for 34 East 13th Street at CityRealty.

RELATED:

• First Look: The Annabelle Selldorf Condos Replacing Bowlmor Lanes in Greenwich Village
• Morris Adjmi’s Tribeca Condo Building at 83 Walker Street Gets Its Inverted Facade
• First Look at Morris Adjmi’s Romanesque Design for Soho’s 134 Wooster Street