The structure now stands several floors above the corner plywood...
The 234-foot-tall building, going as 14+C, will include 197 residential units, "a state-of-the-art fitness room," a yoga studio, and a rooftop deck. Information about the number of "affordable" units included in 14+C, one of the stipulations for being allowed to build a larger (by nine floors) building, has not been made public.
Madison Square Realty is the third owner of the long-empty lot (since 2009) in the past eight years. Madison Realty Capital paid Opal Holdings $31.3 million for the property in May 2020. Opal Holdings bought the parcel in June 2016 from Brooklyn's Rabsky Group for $23 million.
Plans for a 15-floor mixed-use building had already been approved, though no affordable units were attached to that version. As revealed in the spring of 2021, several developers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the city for NYCHA air rights to make this a larger structure with more housing. Plans for the larger development were first unveiled in June 2022.
The plywood rendering lists a February 2026 completion date.
Meanwhile, there is no word on the status of 642 E. 14th St. next door. The new development extends to the third floor of the five-story tenement.
Last month, the owner of 642 E. 14th St. filed plans to demolish the currently vacant pre-war building.
Per Crain's New York, Jeremy Lebewohl, owner of the Second Avenue Deli, filed the paperwork with the Department of Buildings (DOB) on July 10.
Last November, as we first reported, 642's residents — many of them in rent-stabilized units — were abruptly vacated after ongoing excavation next door destabilized the building.
According to the Department of Buildings at the time, "Structural stability of building compromised due to construction operations taking place at 644 E. 14th Street. Heavy cracks in the exterior and interior in addition to separation noted at door frames and floor from wall..."
Lebewohl's attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, told Crain's that "multiple engineers have now said the building is dangerous and needs to be torn down entirely."
According to a spokesperson last month, the DOB was reviewing the application but had not issued an emergency demolition order for the property, per Crain's.
As of yesterday, the request for a demolition permit was "on hold," per DOB records.
The rendering, which does not seem to scale with the surrounding structures, shows No. 642 still in place...
Is Borough President Mark Levine trying to help the residents who were forced to leave?
ReplyDeleteHe keeps discussing the need for more development to enable “affordable “ housing….is he helping to preserve people’s housing?
Cooper Square Committee are the heroes in this story. They helped us (vacated tenants of 642) organize and protest in front of the building, and to twist the developer's arm to provide us with rent-stabilized units in the neighborhood, which they had kept off the market for years. Mark Levine is not a part of our story.
DeleteGeeze - does this building look out of place or what?
ReplyDeleteIt’s inhuman.
DeleteComplements the Con Ed plant, IMHO
DeleteThis building is a eyesore..
DeleteGood to see continued growth in our wonderful city. Onward and upward. Progress is key to a cities ongoing expansion.
ReplyDeleteProgress? How about housing for the middle class, the backbone of our city, the people which have deep roots in this city and not the transient (make my fortune and move on...) The developers should be forced to offer housing to all those which were displaced by their shoddy crew. There will be a "poor door" in this building and only those paying top rent will get to put their yoga outfits on.
DeleteProgre$$ for the developer$, for $ure. Maybe they can pitch in to upgrade our already overburdened infrastructure. Hmm?
DeleteAlthough the rendering may not be to scale these industrial park worthy buildings do indeed stand out as obtrusively as shown. No “affordable “ housing mentioned though required, par for the course for real estate developers.
ReplyDeleteIf that's required then there will be affordable units. Where wasn't that mentioned?
DeleteThis is unjust! Where is the affordable housing applications in this building?
DeleteThis building destabilized the building next to it during pile driving, causing people to lose their rent regulated units they'd been living in for decades. They should be forced to provide new units to all those people at the same cost they were paying.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely disgusting that it looks like they're getting away with it.
I agree totally
DeleteMadison Realty are exploitative bloodsuckers who worked hand-in-glove with Toledano. But, in terms of scale...uh, this is across from Stuy Town! (Also I've seen in other news reports that there will be several hundred affordable units, though of course they will still need to be watched carefully to make sure they don't "accidentally forget" somewhere along the way.)
ReplyDelete(And, yes, everyone forced out next door should be given an affordable spot here.)
ReplyDeletewe are becoming a High Density neighborhood - it its going to be like midtown EV, much like the conversions of the LES and Astor place square
ReplyDeleteThe soups at Second Avenue Deli have been impossibly salty ever since they moved up to Murray Hill.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe post states that the action is on hold:
DeleteAccording to a spokesperson last month, the DOB was reviewing the application but had not issued an emergency demolition order for the property, per Crain's.
As of yesterday, the request for a demolition permit was "on hold," per DOB records.
This seems perfectly to scale next to giant belching smokestacks…… :/
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the new residents will be the type who want to chill and Mona's and Otto's, right?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the justice for the residents of 642? It makes me mad to see no thought for those whose lives were impacted in their project. They better make good for those whose homes were torn from them .
ReplyDelete