Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Oh hi: The 22-floor Bowlmor Lanes-replacing luxury building



The rendering on the plywood along University Place between 12th Street and 13th Street – former home of Bowlmor Lanes — doesn't really illustrate just how large and luxurious the 22-floor retail-residential complex will be here...

You have to go to the website of architect Annabelle Selldorf for the full effect... (The Times had the full reveal back in late May.)



Per the Selldorf website:

This new 118,500 sf mixed-use project is located on the corner of University Place and East 12th Street in Greenwich Village. The primary urban opportunities of the site are to connect to the thriving pedestrian activity and contribute to the public’s experience of the streetscape.

To achieve this the two story retail base has expansive storefront windows interrupted by dark aluminum mullions that create an intimate rhythm and scale. Additionally, the 20 story residential tower above the retail base is set back to maximize the amount of sunlight that reaches the adjacent sidewalks and provide generous rooftop gardens.

The 50-plus-unit building, dubbed 21E12 by developer Billy Macklowe, will have homes ranging from $2.35 million to more than $15 million. The project was originally said to be 23 floors. Now just 22.

Last November, local elected officials, preservation groups and even actor Ed Norton rallied to have this area rezoned to put height limits on new construction along this corridor. Mayor de Blasio wasn't apparently too interested in the proposal.

This building will dwarf a new 7-story luxury condo going in next door at the corner of 13th Street.

Bowlmor Lanes closed in July 2014 after 76 years in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Bowlmor Lanes will convert to condos, like everywhere else around here

76-year-old Bowlmor Lanes closes for good today

Bowlmor says goodbye

Bowlmor Lanes replacement: 23-floor residential building

Major changes coming to University Place and East 13th Street

How about some more condos for University Place

Here's what's left of the block of University Place that once housed Bowlmor Lanes

28 comments:

Giovanni said...

We, the "thriving pedestrians" of the East Village. look forward to meeting the eclectic and diverse community of forward-thinking revolutionaries and innovators who will soon grace us with their very presence as they make the former site of a bowling alley their new multi-million dollar luxury homes. However, if these new denizens of Midtown South instead happen to be trust fund babies, mistresses of Russian oligarchs, overpaid NYU administrators, foreign investors and drug kingpins trying to hide their money, then kindly disregard that first sentence.

Anonymous said...

The problem isn't the building, which is actually quite nice, set back from the street and with so much new green space. The problem is that it's unaffordable for most people. If the day ever comes that the city gets behind real affordable-housing projects, the buildings are as nice as this one.

Anonymous said...

You just want to cry...

Anonymous said...

My heart still hurts.

Gojira said...

@Giovanni - Duly disregarded. No need to wait.

Anonymous said...

I'm intrigued by the architect's last name: "Dorf" is German for village.

Anonymous said...

Wow... Has all of the beauty of a 1970s parking garage...

2nd Ave Silver Panther said...

Thanks, Giovanni, you help me smile through my tears as I observe the transformation of our hood. Bracing myself for life among steel and glass and a wee bit of remaining grit to allow the illusion of "living on the edge."

Brian said...

It is excellent that it is set back a lot after 2 stories of retail base. The tower, however,itself, is ugly. It imposes ugly on the neighborhood, but at least it is not entirely a glass tower which would have been the worst. So I give it a B minus.

Anonymous said...

"The primary urban opportunities of the site are to connect to the thriving pedestrian activity and contribute to the public’s experience of the streetscape."

Can someone translate this? I don't speak douche.

Anonymous said...

Overpriced, just like Bowlmor. Let's stop pretending we were patrons.

DrBOP said...

Yep, that set-back makes the entire building magically disappear.....can't even see it.....no prick tower here.....nabe blending at its best.....is there a building around here?.....can't see it

Unknown said...

@anon 11:36

So true!

Me thinking: "hmmm...what can i do with the ladyfriend tonight to save a buck...money is tight and I don't think I can do dinner...BOWLING, YES BOWLING IS FUN AND CHEAP!!!"

Me leaving Bowlmor: "How the hell did bowling and a few beers run me 125 bucks. WTF."

cmarrtyy said...

These set-back buildings are horrible. New York looks best and feels right when the buildings meets the street-line. The geometry is beautiful. Imagine Central Park West with a set-back building - worse than horrible.

Anonymous said...

I'm living my EV nightmare. The yuppie scum have won and it's worse than I ever could have imagined.

Brian said...

The deep set back allows for a good amount of light and air to reach street level. And yes, it makes the tower less imposing.

Anonymous said...

I went to Bowlmor once in 1990. Decent place. The bowling alley at the Port Authority Bus Terminal was (bowling) leagues better.

I've heard the BAs Chelsea Piers and Lucky Strike are nice. Are they the only BAs left in Manahattan now?

Anonymous said...

Well cmarrty, I suppose you'd like to tear down Lever House because according to you it is a horrible design with its set back and its pedestrian space. And anon 3:15, "yuppie scum"?? It's time for people on this blog to stop the knee-jerk reaction that all bad things are the fault of the "bros" (as if they really control things) and "yuppie scum." Not everything revolves around your hobby horses. But what a pleasure that EV Grieve exists for all of us to post our prejudices.

Anonymous said...

@4:50pm: Please enlighten all of us: Tell us who REALLY does "control things".

Anonymous said...

What a disappointment this mayor had turned out to be!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow. So many negative comments on here. At this juncture, nothing can be done. It is what it is. I am not a huge fan of the incoming tower, but I don't despise it. I am a graduate of The New School and walked up and down University for years. I have numerous memories of its quaintness and charm before the homogeny and gentrification invaded this neighborhood. It sucks in that this is just yet another illustration of how our beloved city is transforming on a daily basis before our eyes. I moved here in 2000 from LA. NYC is certainly not the place now that it was then. Even when I visited NYC during the early and mid 90's that was a different place than in 2000. Time moves forward. And things, buildings, and people change before and around us. We either have to adapt with these impending changes or we get left behind. I'd rather do my best to fight the anger and embrace the modernity than spew vitriol. After all, NYC will always be NYC. The most amazing city in the US. No developer can change that.

Scuba Diva said...

At 6:57n PM, Anonymous said...

What a disappointment this mayor had turned out to be!!!

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…

Anonymous said...

Isnt the set back -- maximizing height -- to provide public space? Will that garden area be open to the public?

Anonymous said...

It's nice to be nice, 9:55. You are right, it's done now.

The issue is that after 12 years of lax zoning, there is no room for anyone who doesn't have a trust fund or hedge fund.

Look around at the many empty retail storefronts. Look at the moving vans and air bnb portals. It's a simulation of NYC.

You are too young to remember the city as it was and will never be again. This will be remembered as the decade that really defined the city's future. But you are right, it's too late to change it back.

cmarrtyy said...

4:50

This design is far from the Lever House. Lever House takes up a full block and the tower is on one end... Technically a setback but the building sits as a low slung structure on a full city block with a tower at one end. Brilliant design. And it work contextually amid all the highrises in the area. The University Place building is common and contextually out of place in a low rise neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-12/manhattans-billionaires-row-death-knell-just-tolled-luxury-real-estate

Anonymous said...

@9:55
It is true that there is always change and change is inevitable.

But this is truly different - the extent and the swiftness with which authentic communities have been destroyed and real people pushed out by the forces of wealth and luxury real estate/financial sector.

It truly is a demographic cleansing of the EV and numerous other parts of NYC.

This change has significant social and political ramifications too - what happens to an area when it becomes a place for affluent transients, people who don't care and don't vote? When a community is destroyed?

For decades, wealth was concentrated on the Upper East Side. And the rest of NYC was left alone. All that has changed and for a number of reasons - so now, the affluent have spread all over, in neighborhoods no one ever thought were in danger of the luxury tsunami.

Where are people supposed to go? It is truly unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

This is for 5:22

You're right. The affluent mostly lived on the UES. The areas downtown were beacons of hope for the young, creative and open minded. Most of us are being pushed out now. NYC feels like a different place than when I moved here. The demographic has long changed and shifted throughout all the boroughs. Even in Brooklyn, where you couldn't have paid someone to live in places like Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg 12 years ago, is now more expensive and alluring than much of Manhattan, which is patently absurd. It is scary to imagine what and how this city is becoming. :(