Friday, July 30, 2021

At long last, workers remove the sidewalk bridge from 75 1st Ave.

Over the past two days, workers have removed the scaffolding and sidewalk bridge from outside 75 First Ave., the cantilevering 8-story condoplex next to Rite Aid at Fifth Street.
As previously noted, this project has been taking its time. The groundbreaking took place in September 2016. The build included nearly 14 months of inactivity.

And, to refresh your memory, some details about the building — dubbed "an architectural masterpiece" and a "timeless glass tower" via the 75 First Ave. website:
The building lobby boasts a fumed glass door entrance, lava stone floors and walls, and a contrasting yellow travertine stone desk. Black stucco adorns the elevator walls, while the private residents lounge features a yellow travertine stone fireplace, white stucco walls with brass reveals, a pool table, and several areas of seating. Additional amenities include a full-time doorman, a landscaped rooftop, a fitness center, and bicycle storage.

Available units include 1 and 3-bedroom homes with several 1-bedrooms featuring sizeable home offices, and a dazzling selection of Penthouse residences crown the building. Each home of 75 First Ave blends a modern open layout with sleek finishes, Italian doors and hardware by Lualdi, and gorgeous floor-to-ceiling windows. Kitchens are equipped with white and greige matte lacquered cabinets custom made in Italy by Arclinea, white Carrara marble countertops and backsplash, Fantini faucets, and top-of-the-line Miele appliances. Bathrooms are adorned with custom sinks and vanities, and Piasentina stone flooring.
Here's a look at the rendering on the plywood...
No word on pricing or availability at the No. 75 website.

The removal of the sidewalk bridge also means that the 99-cent store at 73 First Ave. next door returns to view... thankfully they made it out of the lengthy construction process... (and it should almost be time for the Christmas stuff to show up in the front windows!)
Second pic in this post by Goggla. And thanks to Elissa!

Previously on EV Grieve:
• 2020 vision: New completion set for Rite Aid-adjacent condoplex on 1st Avenue

• High-rise for 75 First Avenue back in play

• Long-stalled First Avenue site now has a brand-new rendering

• Plywood report and the future of 75 1st Ave. (Spoiler: condos)

20 comments:

  1. Finally! What's it been? A few years? Good riddance to that eye sore.

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  2. Hopefully will mean the Christmas Tree People will return this year.

    BTW, RA is no longer 24 hours, now open 7 am - 12 midnight.

    Can't help but wonder if that building could ever topple.

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  3. Black stucco elevator walls sounds like something you would take down into a coal mine.

    Anyway, after that exhaustive description, all you have to do is say, "I live above Rite Aid."

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  4. I live across the street from this thing. Near 5 years of on and off construction. As much as I hate these new buildings, it was originally going to be much taller, so I'll take a shorter building. I just laugh at the prices and opulence of it. So out of place in that spot.

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  5. I'm glad to know my bathroom is "adorned" with a sink. I thought it was just shoved in there to wait for me to wash my face and brush my teeth.

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  6. I have walked by here hundreds of times and had never noticed it was cantilevered over Rite Aid until right now.

    And at long last, that nasty sidewalk shed obstacle course has come down. I must say, the building lobby description does appear a little de-luxe for this particular stretch.

    I love the "rendering on the plywood" ahahahahah!!!

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  7. Yes - hoping for a return of the Christmas tree forest!

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  8. This is a genuine question. For those of you, and for all EVG readers, that denounce and criticize these types of buildings, are you saying that, if given the chance, you would turn down an opportunity to live in one of them?

    A note: I understand the grievances and lamentations of the neighborhood’s identity changing. I lived here in 03-06, and moved back in 2015. I’ve lived in standard buildings and in buildings like 75 First Ave., and still live in the latter now.

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    1. I think the issue must people have with buildings like this is that they are not affordable housing. Affordable housing would be appropriate for this neighborhood. But this building and the building that went up at seventh Street and 2nd Ave. or expensive condos. We don’t need more luxury buildings. No one does. We need affordable housing so people can stay in the neighborhood they love.

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  9. Grieve skipped right over Halloween window decorations. A breach of holiday etiquette.

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  10. Muscle memory won't let me walk past without skirting around the ghost plywood. Sorry in advance.

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  11. is it just me or does anyone else get nervous when developers highlight landscaped rooftops...

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    Replies
    1. I hear you. Actually we will probably hear them! More tech brobags DJs on rooftops. Woo hoo.

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  12. Grieve, you torture us with that cut-n-paste broker/developer babblespeak.
    love the plywood rendering!

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  13. This fish tank, I mean building is so 2016

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  14. There's a condo waiting to happen "rite" next door.

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  15. To July 30, 2021 at 12:47 PM,

    It's not the notion of turning away from a nice abode. It's that these massive buildings are dropped in and they don't fit the character of the area. And they are marketed as luxury homes, which in turn make the area more high-end, and that hurts the middle-class who have lived here for generations. But this goes into zoning laws and providing enough affordable housing. In this case, the developer was allowed to buy air rights from the drugstore and make the thing even LARGER. To benefit million-dollar apartment sales.

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  16. @12:47pm: I have lived in the East Village for decades, and I can honestly say I would NEVER EVER want to live in ANY of these new glass-box buildings, even if I could afford to spend stupid amounts of money to buy or rent.

    I have a lovely apartment in a very old townhouse. I bought my apartment eons ago, and I intend to remain here until they carry me out feet-first.

    There is nothing at all appealing to me about these new buildings, and I mean that literally. It only remains to wait another 10 years to see how well these places hold up, and if they need expensive repairs.

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  17. On July 30, 2021 at 9:27 AM, Anonymous said:

    Can't help but wonder if that building could ever topple.

    This cantilevering is common where there are short walk-up buildings with a developer building a much taller building next door; there's a similar cantilevered building up on Third Avenue near 22nd street.

    Presumably there was an engineer involved in the planning of the new building—at least, we hope so.

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