The 'High Line East vibes' of 799 Broadway

Workers have removed the sidewalk bridge and remaining scaffolding from outside the all-new 799 Broadway, the 12-story zig-zagging office complex on the SW corner at 11th Street.

EVG reader Doug, who shared these photos, noted the building's "High Line East vibes" ...

According to published reports this past fall, the building with floor-to-ceiling glass and private terraces has its first two tenants: Newrez, a mortgage lending and service firm, and Bain Capital Ventures. 

No. 799 was the former home of the historic St. Denis building (not landmarked, unfortunately), which opened as a hotel in 1853. Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the property for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016... and tore it down.

Our post on No. 799 from January 2020 has a little more background about the project and the concerns over this out-of-scale construction along this corridor.

Construction watch: 799 Broadway

Been meaning to post an update on 799 Broadway... where, at the southwest corner at 11th Street, this 12-story zig-zagging office complex has its glassy façade in place ... (these photos are from a few weeks ago, but it essentially looks the same...)

According to a news release about the address: "799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies."

No. 799 was the former home of the historic St. Denis building, which opened as a hotel in 1853. Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the property for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016... and tore it all down.

Construction watch: 799 Broadway

In case you haven't been over by the southwest corner of Broadway and 11th Street of late... it appears that workers have nearly reached the top of this 12-story zig-zagging office complex (this development made the cut for essential construction during the COVID-19 PAUSE)...



According to a news release about the address: "799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies."

And (previously revealed) renderings of the new building via architects Perkins and Will ...





The official site for 799 Broadway is at this link.

EVG reader Gojira shared these views of the new building from 11th Street and Fourth Avenue from over the weekend...





Per Gojira: "Saw this monstrosity looming over the Grace Church Rectory, and competing with that beautiful spire for air space. What a fucking travesty."

No. 799 was the former home of the historic St. Denis building, which opened as a hotel in 1853. Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the property for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million


[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Construction watch: 799 Broadway

[Photo from Saturday]

Workers are starting on the fourth floor of the incoming 12-story zig-zagging office complex on the southwest corner of Broadway at 11th Street.

The address was the former home of the recently demolished St. Denis building. Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the property for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.

According to a news release about the address: "799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies."

And (previously revealed) renderings of the new building via architects Perkins and Will ...





The official site for 799 Broadway is at this link.

This is the type of new development of concern to preservationists, who say this out-of-scale construction is a threat to the area south of Union Square, where other new development includes 809 Broadway.

This morning, the City Planning Commission holds a public hearing on the proposed hotel special permit requirement for Greenwich Village and the East Village south of Union Square.

Per the Village Preservation:

The Mayor’s campaign donors and supporters are real beneficiaries are of this plan, which does nothing to fulfill promises to protect these neighborhoods in the wake of increased development pressure from the City Council’s approval of the upzoning for the Mayor’s 14th Street Tech Hub [in August 2018].

As for the southwest corner of Broadway and 11th Street: The former St. Denis building, which was 165 years old, was noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers. (For more history, Jeremiah Moss, who once had an office in the St. Denis, wrote this feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books in March 2018.)

However, the building was not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.


[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million

There's not much left of the former St. Denis Hotel on Broadway

[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Workers have been slowing bringing down the historic St. Denis building, 799 Broadway at 11th Street.

The above photo via Dave on 7th shows what's left. Workers started the demo prep work back in September.

Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the property for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.

On March 14, the city OK'd permits for the 12-story, "loft-style building" taking the place of the St. Denis. According to a news release about the address: "799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies."

And a rendering of the new building...


[Binyan Studios]

The nearly demolished structure, which was 165 years old, was noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.



However, the building was not landmarked... and it was not in a Historic District.

For more history, Jeremiah Moss, who once worked in the St. Denis, wrote this feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books in March 2018.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor Place

Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million


[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

A demonstration tomorrow to keep the neighborhood from becoming Midtown South

The Greenwich Village Society For Historic Preservation is hosting a rally tomorrow (Saturday) at noon. Here are details via the EVG inbox...

Please join us on Saturday at 11th and Broadway, in front of the old St. Denis Hotel, for a demonstration to save our neighborhood. The historic former hotel, built in 1853, is to be demolished for a large glassy office tower.

This is part of a broader trend of demolitions and completely inappropriate new development in this area south of Union Square, fueled by a lack of zoning and landmark protections, the expanding tech industry in the area, and the commercial upzoning for the Tech Hub recently approved nearby on 14th Street. That deal, passed by the City Council and local Councilmember Rivera, failed to include any of the promised meaningful protections for the affected adjacent Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods.

Developers now increasingly see this area of our neighborhood as an extension of the ‘Midtown South’ office district and of the tech industry’s “Silicon Alley” ... we are continuing to push for landmark protections that will preserve this and other buildings in the area.

Find more info on the rally here.

A look at the boutique office building replacing the St. Denis on 11th and Broadway

[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

Workers are prepping the historic St. Denis at 797-799 Broadway at 11th Street for demolition, as Jeremiah Moss reported yesterday.

Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the building for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.


[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Plans were unveiled on Friday for the new building.

Via a news release:

799 Broadway is located at the corner of 11th Street and Broadway, at the convergence of Union Square and Greenwich Village. Designed by Perkins+Will, the new 12-story, loft-style building will comprise 182,000 square feet of boutique office space and will provide a dramatic complement to this quintessential New York neighborhood. With floor plates ranging from 3,600 to 22,000 square feet, 799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies.

And...

Once completed, 799 Broadway will complement Columbia’s growing portfolio of differentiated assets in Midtown South, characterized by smaller floor plates, distinctive architecture, and high-end, modern finishes and amenities.

Speaking of once completed...


[Binyan Studios]

Further proof the tech/office boom in our neighborhood, which will be exacerbated by the recent Tech Hub rezoning, is turning Greenwich Village+the East Village into “Midtown South” in the real estate industry’s eyes: https://t.co/r3r5nomlhf

— GVSHP (@GVSHP) September 17, 2018

The 165-year-old building that is being torn down is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.

However, the building is not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.

Moss, who worked in the St. Denis, wrote this feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books back in March.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor Place

Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million

Report: New building permits filed for former St. Denis Hotel property

[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Plans are moving forward for a new office development at 799 Broadway at 11th Street — the former St. Denis Hotel.

The Real Deal reported that Normandy Real Estate Partners filed permit applications for a new 12-story building.

Here's more from New York Yimby:

Original reports said the development of 799 Broadway was limited to a gut renovation of the interior structure and a vertical expansion of the historic corner property. Permits filed ... however, reveal the construction of a new, 12-story, 182-foot-tall building containing 182,626 square feet of Class-A office space. An additional 10,032 square feet will be dedicated to an unspecified community facility.

TRD also had an updated rendering of the building via design firm Perkins + Will...



Demolition permits haven't been filed just yet for 799 Broadway. As previously noted, the 165-year-old building is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.

However, the building is not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.

Vanishing New York's Jeremiah Moss, a former tenant at the address, wrote a feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books back in March.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million

End of days at the St. Denis

End of days at the St. Denis

[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

The new-ish owners of the St. Denis at 797-799 Broadway at 11th Street have plans for the building that don't include its current small business owners (mostly psychotherapists, apparently).

Vanishing New York's Jeremiah Moss, himself a soon-to-be-former-tenant, wrote a feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books.

Per Moss:

[In the summer of 2016], tenants received a letter from the new owners, announcing the purchase and assuring, “We look forward to continuing the strong, positive relationships enjoyed by tenants in the building.” But as leases expired, they were not renewed, except as short-term extensions rigged with sixty-day termination clauses. Some tenants saw the writing on the wall and moved out. Those who remained hoped that [Normandy Real Estate Partners'] plans — whatever they were — would fall through. Rumors circulated about the future of the St. Denis. It would be gutted, glossed, and given to a single corporation. It would be flipped and turned into condos. And the unimaginable? It would be demolished.

In the summer of 2017, tenants discovered architectural renderings on the Internet proposing to replace the St. Denis with a seventeen-story glass tower sheathed in white glass, as sterile as an operating table. On their website, the CetraRuddy firm claimed that their design will create “an office environment that addresses mental and physical well-being.”

Here's a look at CetraRuddy Architect's concept for the St. Denis (via CityRealty)...



Normandy Real Estate Partners have yet to publicly announce their plans for the property just yet. (Normandy has said that this idea was just allegedly conceptual.)

The 165-year-old building is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.

However, the building is not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.

Back to the article:

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, is advocating for a zoning to protect the area and its architectural jewels. “The Tech Hub is accelerating the changes,” he told me. What’s coming, he says, are more “high-end high-rise developments — condos, hotels, and tech office buildings.” And there is no limit to how high they can go, thanks to a current zoning that Berman says is “very generous to developers.”

Read the full article by Moss here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million

A boutique office building a possibility for Broadway and 11th Street

[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Last spring, The Real Deal reported that Normandy Real Estate Partners was in contract to buy 797-799 Broadway at 11th Street for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark.

Now The Real Deal hears what might be in the works for the corner:

Normandy Real Estate Partners and Ares Management are weighing plans to develop a boutique office building on Broadway ... not far from the commercial property at 51 Astor Place that locals have dubbed the Death Star ...

The partners would develop a 200,000-square-foot, Class A office building at 797-799 Broadway, which they bought last summer for $101 million, as TRD reported at the time.

A 138,000-square-foot Class B office building ... now sits on the site, and the developers would not be able to begin construction until leases expire in 2019. The tenants are a mix of medical offices and small-time retailers.

51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star is 400,000 square feet, so this new project, while quite larger than the current building, would still be half the size of its neighborhood to the southeast.

797-799 Broadway is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.

Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million

[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

The Real Deal is reporting that Normandy Real Estate Partners is in contract to buy 797-799 Broadway at East 11th Street for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark.

The building is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of LinkNYC the telephone to New Yorkers.

Off the Grid, the blog of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, has a nice post on the building's history.

An excerpt:

In 1917, after 64 years of operation, it was announced that the St. Denis would be closing its doors to make way for a loft building. The reason for its demise was the surrounding neighborhood’s change in character and the manager’s inability to keep up with modern hotel-keeping ideas. In February 1920, the Renwick family finally sold the property, which had been in their family for 250 years, at auction.

“The changing of the St. Denis Hotel to an office building obliterates one of the oldest hotels in the city…The St. Denis Hotel was the fashionable headquarters half a century ago” said the New York Times. The hotel was converted into a modern store and office building and, during renovations, was stripped of its previous decorative front.

As we noted at the time: "Ah applesauce!" A few EVG readers figured the storefronts would attract yet another millinery shop.

Anyway! Here's a photo of the hotel in its glory days... (from the NYPL via Off the Grid)...



As for the future of the address, The Real Deal noted: "It was not immediately clear what Normandy plans to do with the building."