Back in April of 2014, YIMBY reported on the first new building applications for the development site at 55 West 17th Street. And now, we have the first renderings for the project, which is being designed by Morris Adjmi Architects, and developed by Toll Brothers City Living.
Building applications call for a 91,714 square-foot structure that will include 5,231 square feet of ground-floor retail, with the rest of the space to be divided between 55 condominiums. A press release from last week (that came along with the project’s new website) described the breakdown as follows, also noting a slightly lower number of units than what’s on-file in the DOB documents:
Located on West 17th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, the 19-story building offers 53 residences ranging from one- to four-bedrooms. Upper floor residences present beautiful Manhattan views, and an expansive duplex penthouse with a private terrace and outdoor swimming pool graces the entirety of the building’s top floors.
The surrounding neighborhood is one of the most rapidly changing in New York City, and is currently home to a boom in both pre-war conversions and new development. The aesthetic of 55 West 17th Street will be respectful of the site’s surrounds, with an exterior covered in “handmade Danish brick” and metallic accents done in bronze architectural metal.
55 West 17th Street, image from Toll Brothers City Living
In fact, compared to many of the surrounding buildings, the new structure will be a dramatic improvement. Its exterior is free of blemishing PTACs, which pockmark many of the post-war developments in the vicinity, and it will also improve dramatically upon the structure it replaced, which was completely unremarkable.
At 19 floors, the building won’t make any impact on the skyline, but the addition of ground-floor retail will certainly help the streetscape.
While the location is technically Chelsea, the demographics on the ground have shifted substantially in recent years, thanks to both the technology boom and the increasing cache of adjacent neighborhoods like Flatiron and NoMad. The growth of NoMad in particular will prove impactful over the next few years, as several new hotels open along Broadway in 20s. Combined with all the new residential development, this should translate into an increasingly vibrant pedestrian experience across much of the vicinity.
As for 55 West 17th Street, occupancy is currently expected by the winter of 2016, and pricing will start at $1.5 million.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
