Related’s new tower at 500 West 30th Street has surpassed the halfway point in its construction, and is on its way to being one of the High Line’s most prominent residential buildings. For now the project remains facade-less, though with Stern as the architect the end result should be quite nice.
Immediately around the corner another Related project is also under construction, at 529 West 29th Street. DOB filings indicate the project will rise 14 stories and contain 126 affordable housing units.
529 West 29th Street’s Remedial Action Plan goes into great detail on the history and future of the site, and there’s a reason it’s being developed as affordable housing–
“Soil samples collected during the 2011 remedial site investigation revealed the presence of several contaminants in excess of Track 1 Unrestricted Soil Clean-up Objectives SCOs and Track 2 Restricted Residential SCOs at all 8 locations sampled, most notably semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs: polycyclic aromatic compounds, PAHs) and metals.”
In short, up to 14 feet of toxic soil had to be removed from the site before it could be developed, as it had past industrial uses. This isn’t too uncommon in New York City–17 million gallons of oil leaked into the soil under Greenpoint–but the project is very different for a neighborhood where almost all new housing units are luxury.
Per the Remedial Action Plan, 529 West 29th will have to be completed by August in order to take advantage of HUD funding, so it should be finished quickly.
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| 500 West 30th Street |
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| 500 West 30th Street |
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| 500 West 30th Street |
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| 500 West 30th Street |
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| 529 West 29th Street |
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| 529 West 29th Street |
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