The crane is up at 150 Charles Street, which is being developed by The Witkoff Group. The project faced significant opposition — to be expected for any new development in the West Village — after neighborhood residents alleged that Witkoff had no right to build 150 Charles, given the tear-down of the warehouse that was originally on-site. Why NIMBYs would prefer living next to a derelict warehouse rather than condominiums is perplexing, but the question is moot now that construction has begun.
150 Charles Street will preserve part of the old factory’s facade, evident in the above photos, and renderings of the project — designed by the consistently stupendous firm Cook + Fox — show a contextual building that steps downwards to the Hudson River. Fountains will cascade down the building’s western side, creating a series of waterfalls — at least, those are the current plans. Given the building’s extremely high-end price-tag, perhaps the refreshingly creative waterworks won’t be value-engineered out of the final product.
Though the crane was easy to photograph, an overzealous guard was present whose sole stated purpose was to ensure ‘no photographs’ of the building’s foundation work, which has now begun — despite the consternation of the ‘photography security guard,’ photos of said progress are also above.
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