Monday, January 11, 2016

Report: Boutique office building on East Houston and Lafayette at BP site a go



Despite not having any tenants, Related Cos. will start construction of a swanky new boutique office building on East Houston and Lafayette in the next few months, Crain's reports.

The development has been in the discussion phase for several years now.

Per Crain's:

Developers typically need to find an anchor tenant in order to establish a source of income that will help to finance the construction of the development. But like other boutique-office developers, Related discovered that it would have to take a risk and construct the building without a tenant in hand because small-sized office tenants do not make decisions on their office space years in advance. Instead they sign leases closer to when they are ready to make a move.

The 7-story terra-cotta and limestone building — designed by Cookfox Architects — will have 30,000 square feet of retail and 53,000 square feet of office space. As Crain's noted, "300 Lafayette will have abundant outdoor space, with a roof deck and expansive terraces on each floor."

And here is a rendering...


[Rendering by Cookfox via Crain's]

The building is expected to be finished in 2018.

Meantime, this means the BP station on the lot will be closing soonish. So the BP on East 23rd Street at Avenue C/the FDR will be the closest place around here if you need gas. (Gas for your vehicle. Because someone will make a joke.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

Have you seen the glass tower in the works for Lafayette and East Houston?

Filling up: the status of 2 former East Village gas stations

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

This leaves the Village and East Village zero gas stations. The nearest one is at 23rd Street and the East River by the entrance to the FDR. Soon you will run out of gas before you get to a station.
Maybe somebody really rich will buy a plot of land, open up a modern internet gas station? Big possibilities abound for the right entrepreneur who needs a pet project. I imagine hi-tech pumps with fast chargers for cell phones; starbucks coffee drive through only; an internet cafe available as your car gets washed in the automatic car wash; etc.
Perhaps build it OVER Houston Street on a raised roadway accessible from E-W or N-S ?

nygrump said...

the plan is to take away your cars and your guns. All you need is fashion, people, temporary clothes and worry about celebrity relationships.

When you need to go somewhere, you will need to ask permission from the State to see if you are on the secret No Drive list and then you might get a robot car, if any are available to the Volk. Of course there will be certain groups of people who get priority, like at the airports. Everyone is equal in the USA, except some people are more equal.

Anonymous said...

Dam… that is the only gas station in the city I ever use! Dam right about running out of gas before you can get all the way to 23rd/C … especially during rush hour!!!

Anonymous said...

That also means the lines for the gas pumps will be ridiculous over at 23rd/C with all the taxi's that will need to gas up!!! The Houston/Lafayette Station was terrible to get in and out of with all the taxi's parked there and filling up!

Giovanni said...

After Hurricane Sandy, the 23rd St gas station got flooded and it was closed for months while they repaired the damage. If that happens again, lower Manhattan will be out of gas. There isn't much room there for cars to wait for gas, so if more cars start showing up the taxis and Uber cars will be backing up onto the service road, or stuck in front of the pier's garage entrance, blocking traffic. Uber needs to open their own gas stations

chris flash said...

This can ONLY happen because the city ALLOWS it by changing the zoning and use for this parcel. If the city said this could ONLY be a gas station, that's what it would remain. Accordingly, the tax assessment would be low and a gas station could afford to operate there.

A healthy city provides for every strata of society, from the lowest to the highest, as well as for every use to accomodate the needs of the people of a city.

This city's policy of changing zoning, issuing zoning variances, giving tax breaks and even providing tax-payer dollars to facilitate over-developments that serves ONLY the interests of the super-wealthy has caused the hyper-gentrification that is DESTROYING our city....

Michael Ivan said...

^ Nailed it Chris.

Really troubling anyone could look at a city map, see zero gas stations left below 23rd and still green light this. Greedy seawards.

Anonymous said...

Surprised they have renderings of taxis, since taxis don't work without gas.

Anonymous said...

Who needs a car in Manhattan?

Scuba Diva said...

There's a Mobil station on 8th avenue below 14th, I think…isn't there? (There was one; in fact, they demolished a Mobil station on that site and then rebuilt it, so it seems surprising they'd raze it again so quick.)

But I thought this BP station was the one they landmarked; isn't there a landmarked gas station somewhere in NoHo, or did they overturn that? (I know GVSHP wasn't very happy about the landmarking, but I doubt they'd have the power to overturn it.)

Anonymous said...

Well, people the next time you're in an accident remember, an ambulance uses gas.

Anonymous said...

That rendering looks cool. I'm glad to see they're finally starting to build some nice buildings in this neighborhood.