The first permit was filed last Thursday for the new building that will house the Union Square Tech Training Center (aka the tech hub and 14th @ Irving).
Renderings for the tech hub arrived at the former P.C. Richard & Son property on 14th Street at Irving Place earlier this month. Previous reports on the building, including the city's own news release, listed the 258,000 square-foot project at 21 floors.
However, the permit on file with the DOB lists 22 floors and 309,000 square feet...
Not sure what accounts for the discrepancy. The Schedule A on the permit shows that the 22nd floor is for elevator machinery rooms, the boiler room and the generator switchboard room.
Meanwhile, there's nothing on file yet with the DOB about demolishing the existing building.
As previously reported, the project is being developed jointly by the city’s Economic Development Corp. and developer RAL Development Service. The building includes Civic Hall, which will offer tech training for low-income residents, as well as market-rate retail, office space and a food hall.
[Image via Davis Brody Bond]
The hub, initially announced in early 2017, passed through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) earlier this year, capped off by a unanimous City Council vote in August. A rezoning was required to build the the
For months, some residents, activists, small-business owners and community groups expressed concern that the rezoning necessary for the project would spur out-of-scale development on surrounding blocks. (You can read more about what transpired in the links below.)
The 14th @ Irving website states that construction will start in the first quarter of 2019, with the building opening in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Construction on an already-congested thoroughfare will coincide with the L-train closure starting in April 2019, when 14th Street is expected to serve as a (mostly) car free busway for displaced subway commuters.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC
Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood
P.C. Richard puts up the moving signs on 14th Street; more Tech Hub debate to come
Preservationists: City schedules next public hearing on tech hub without any public notice
City Council's lone public hearing on the 14th Street tech hub is tomorrow
City Council unanimously approves tech hub; some disappointment in lack of zoning protections
The conversation continues on the now-approved tech hub for 14th Street
1st signs for the future tech hub arrive on 14th Street; more details emerge about 14th @ Irving