An EVG reader noted that workers arrived yesterday at 644 E. 14th St., the long-empty lot on the southwest corner of Avenue C. Nothing too major to point out, other than some freshly churned dirt (from some soil testing?) and newly painted plywood.
In any event, it marks the first there has been much here to note in the way of construction activity.
Last month, The Real Deal reported that Brooklyn's Rabsky Group sold the property to Opal Holdings for $23 million. (Per their website: "Opal Holdings targets value-added or opportunistic properties in the office, retail, residential and hotel sectors, to be repositioned or redeveloped.")
Not sure at this point what might be repositioned or redeveloped. Maybe the R&S Strauss auto parts store, which closed in April 2009? (It was demolished in early 2015.)
There are approved permits for a 14-story building totaling 63,932 square feet, with 8,064 square feet for retail ... and 21,991 square feet for a community facility. However, it's unclear if these are the plans that Opal would stick with moving forward.
Whenever construction actually commences, crews will likely have to contend with some serious de-watering activity... the developers two blocks to the west at 438 E. 14th St. have said that they found unusually elevated groundwater levels and exceedingly soft and unstable soil owing to the presence of an underground stream.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Development back in play for East 14th Street and Avenue C
More details on the sale of 644 E. 14th St.
Here comes a 15-story retail-residential complex for East 14th Street and Avenue C
Prepping the former R&S Strauss auto parts store for demolition on East 14th Street and Avenue C
City OKs 15-story mixed-use retail-residential building on 14th and C
14th and C now waiting for the Karl Fischer-designed 15-story retail-residential complex
14th and C still waiting for its Karl Fischer-designed retail-residential complex
Report: New owners for the empty lot at 14th Street and Avenue C
Beer store?
ReplyDeleteCommunity garden!
Hopefully these developers will turn lemons (or elevated ground water level) in to lemonade and create a swimming pool in the basement using the existing stream. Wow what a selling point that would be.
ReplyDeleteWhy sure, because we don't have enough construction already going on along the 14th Street / 1st-C corridor!
ReplyDeleteThey are hedging on Con Ed folding their 14 Street operation and selling.
ReplyDeleteRemember, Con Ed is no longer generating power, but distributing it.
Ha! I like the 2016 post. Construction plywood as collectable. Whoda thunk?
ReplyDeleteYea- that would make sense for Con Ed to cash in.
ReplyDeleteWho generates power for con Ed then??
ReplyDeleteThe ConEd station is, and always has been, a distributing station. They make a some electricity with a naphtha fuel cell, although a don't know if that's still in operation.
ReplyDeleteDistributing electricity is a complicated operation, and that's what the ConEd plant does. They've never generated electricity there, except for the experiment fuel cell.
I believe you, but why then are there smokestacks that emit steam/chemicals?
ReplyDeleteIt was generous of Anon 12:31 to believe me, but I was wrong. There *is* electricity produced at the plant, mostly from natural gas. There's steam produced, also.
ReplyDeleteSee, for example, this, uh, fascinating article on the sources of water they use:
http://www.power-eng.com/articles/print/volume-111/issue-8/features/east-river-repowering-project-design-construction-and-operation.html
If you want to google for more, the official name of the plant is the "East River Station," which shows that they didn't put any effort into that.
As of 2014 it was generating electricity and steam:
ReplyDeleteCon Edison East River Generating Station generates electricity and steam. It
operates one (1) 1930 MMBtu/hr boiler, one (1) 1982 MMBtu/hr boiler,
ten (10) 180 MMBtu/hr boilers(192MMBtu/hr when natural gas fired) and
two (2) truncated combined cycle combustion turbine units(2054
MMBtu/hr)with heat recovery steam generators(1332MMBtu/hr)
LUXURY. we all know that's what's destined to happen here. nothing for the existing tenants, nothing for the communities who've been here for generations. NOPE! LUXURY CONDO! that word itself: "Luxury" has basically turned into saying Fuck You to native working class NYers.. when you see a billboard that goes up and it says LUXURY, that real estate company is saying FUCK YOU right to your face, and they know you can't do a damn thing about it.
ReplyDelete