Top two photos by William Klayer
The latest proposal calls for approximately 150,230 square feet of development, including 37 affordable apartments for households earning no more than 80% of the area median income.
The two buildings would contain 99 and 85 apartments, respectively, with shared residential amenities including a fitness center, sauna, an all-important golf simulator, and common terraces.
The project would also feature approximately 12,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space and no parking.
Crain's reports that dividing the development into two buildings appears intended to avoid construction wage requirements under the city's 485-x tax incentive program, which apply to projects with 100 or more residential units.
The developers are also seeking approval from the Department of City Planning to transfer 26,100 square feet of unused development rights from St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery at 131 E. 10th St.
As we reported in August, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the proposed transfer on July 21. The arrangement would fund maintenance of the landmarked church while allowing a larger development on Third Avenue.
Meanwhile, financing is coming together.
Commercial real estate firm Walker & Dunlop announced that it arranged $203.5 million in construction financing from private debt manager Ironsand for the project.
The latest plans follow several years of changes along this stretch of Third Avenue.
As we've documented, Kinsmen assembled the properties over several years, paying more than $60 million for the six walk-up buildings that once occupied the site.
The last remaining commercial tenant, TLK by Tigerlily Kitchen at 58 Third Ave., closed in August 2024.
Demolition followed that fall, with the buildings completely gone by January 2025.
The lot remained largely inactive until construction preparations began this year.
In September, a rendering finally appeared on the construction plywood, showing a tiered building with large windows and setbacks above ground-floor retail.
That earlier proposal listed an anticipated completion date of January 2029.
It's not clear how the expanded plans will affect the design or construction timeline.
One building that isn't part of the development is 48 Third Ave., the longtime holdout on the northwest corner of 10th Street, where Healthy Greens Gourmet occupies the ground-floor retail space.
34 comments:
Jesus H Christ, what a nightmare.
same word came to mind: nightmare!
Another example of exploitation of rule loopholes to get rich by creating the most generic pile with zero regard for surrounding context, that plague our eyes and spirits for generations to come.
Oh well, they might as well go big anyways. The building is already there. Hopefully more affordable units will be allocated for others.
Good. More housing. This should be double the height though with 500+ units.
Ugly. See the recently constructed residential building at 64 University Place for a much better designed alternative.
RIP Downtown.
Housing? You mean real estate developer predatory exploitation of the tax laws and rules guided by lawyers "following the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law" in order to wring out every cent of profit? This has nothing to do with place based architecture and respecting the community, much less good basic architecture and civil planning. This building will look like the boring cheap jumble of boxes it is, just like the other refugee from a suburban industrial park that is the box at Fourth and Bowery.
485-x tax incentive program is one of the dumbest laws that has ever been passed. This city needs more density, but this short-sighted law makes it very difficult to do.
Thanks to Carlina Rivera for not giving us 3rd & 4th Avenue zoning protection as she had promised when first running for office. She promised not to vote yes on the Tech Hub on 14th St unless we got that protection. Two weeks after her.election - yes to Tech Hub, no to zoning protection. Her legacy lives on!
otherwise known as.... housing
At what point when Greenwich Village and the East Village are filled with highrise buildings, will the character of the local areas be erased?
Amazing, more housing! This building should be at least twice as tall.
We don’t need more ‘affordable’ housing because that has become a farce. The elderly people who need affordable housing cannot afford it. All this does is add more congestion to an already overpopulated situation.
This is one party rule in action. Real estate runs this town. They paid for last years... Eric Adams' City of Yes bill... that basically allows
unbridled building. Since real estate is cheap in the EV compared to the rest of the city and because our elected leaders are traitors to the welfare of the community... this is just the beginning. The community of NO... has to stand up to the City of Yes.
The whole block will need to be lined with trees to mitigate the sun and heat that is going to be reflected by this facade. This really looks like a midtown design.
Funnily enough that's exactly what the Lenape Indians have been saying for the past 400 years.
all for housing but this is ... deplorable that affordable word is just that a word when it's pegged to existing rents we need LOW INCOME housing affordable has become another word for you can't afford it also what up with no parking these developers hit the jackpot with this CB jeeeesh
My perspective has changed since the 24 story apartment building opened at the corner of 14th and C, near where I live. I thought (and think) it is out of scale with our corner of the EV, but being on the fringe (like these Third Avenue buildings) it is less damaging to the fabric of our neighborhood. But what has moved me is seeing the new people move in and be on our block. Lots of young people excited to be in New York, just like I was 45 years ago. Obviously a different neighborhood and what attracted me then is perhaps different for them, but I'm happy to see their excitement. (And like it or not, NYC needs them. Their employers, their income, their taxes.) PS I do agree that the Third Avenue rendering shows a truly ugly building. I hope that changes with the new configuration.
my iMMEDIATE thought was the 99 unit work around - regardless none of the 'affordable" apts are affordable anyway so, shrug
“More” units but not the kind of housing the city needs now, does zip to help the overall crisis. (And not the kind of development that serves the community).
I knew someone who rented a spacious one-bedroom apartment with his husband in one of the buildings that was demolished to make way for this development. They lived there for over 25 years, paying just $950 a month as rent controlled tenants, before eventually leaving the city for upstate. It makes you wonder what kind of compensation, if any, the developers had to offer the other residents displaced from this block. Such a shame. That neighborhood had so much character and history, and it’s sad to see it disappear.
Wrong. The city needs more housing of all kinds. Housing filters down. This is great that we're increasing the amount of units. More places for people to live.
I agree the rendering looks ugly, but count me among those who would probably be ok with it being even taller and providing more housing units. I'm not sure how much height feels like too much. I definitely wouldn't want to live in midtown, but I'm ok with some taller units mixing it with the brick and brownstone buildings in the area. It's not like 3rd Ave is or was recently picturesque. Building taller on the avenues seems ok to me.
It would be good if it were 100% affordable. No more market rate.
We have so many outstanding architects in this city. There is no excuse for this hideous building
Architects don't get to choose the design or the materials unless it's a private residence. The developer dictates the concept and budget. Concept generally means glass box. I'd love to see a curvy building from the studio of Zaha Hadid but that's not going to happen any time soon in the EV.
Zaha Hadid's building is one of the most expensive buildings in the city and went well over budget. We dont need that here. We need affordable housing with good light, outdoor space and modern amenities. I do like Daniel Liebeskinds building for NYCHA called the Atrium. It's a clever indoor outdoor design. The scope of homelessness in NYC is directly comparable to the Great Depression and people just dont care. It isn't an issue. Apathy from all groups is the overall problem.
Yes the Hadid building was extremely expensive so much so that buyers got huge discounts due to sluggish sales. The point I was making is that there unique non generic buildings out there but due costs, red tape, and code issues the Glass Box reigns supreme. Be that as it may anyone could copy that look, or that of the Marina City circular towers in Chicago, or the thousands of other non generic designs around the globe. And actually the ZH building highlights the pitfalls of building in NYC even with a name architect and large budget.
I'm not asking for an outrageous design. A good architect can design a building with beautiful proportions and details without needing it to be really hyped up. In my opinion, this building (judging from the rendering) has awkward proportions, ugly details, and brings nothing of value to the streetscape.
I could care what it brings to the landscape. What is will bring is more people with money so who cares.
The EV has always been known as a creative center in the arts. Roy Lichtenstein... Jasper johns had studios on 13th street and Lafayette street.And many more artists in music and photography lived and worked as our neighbors for decades. So why can't we have a beautifully designed building. We don't need to be shoebox city. The best building in the EV are the Bowery Dubai hotel, Thomas Mayne's Cooper Union building on 3rd. and the 4th Ave side of the Death Star at Astor place. We should demand more from the community board that approves these ugly, monstrous buildings. I mean some of these buildings look like they're part of the prison system to replace Rikers and others look like office buildings... making a joke out of remote workers.
JEFF koons at The Death Star. I remember when the Basque separatists from ETA group plotted to bomb the newly built Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by hiding them around Jeff Koons floral sculpture Puppy.
If I get an apartment that I can afford good. Otherwise a pox on all your housing.
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