The first permits are up for Extell’s new development at 250 South Street, which also has an address at 227 Cherry Street; the building will replace a Pathmark supermarket on an under-utilized lot. Adamson Associates is listed as the architect of record.
250 South Street will become one of the largest residential towers in Lower Manhattan, measuring approximately one million square feet; the base will have a host of amenities, including a basketball court, a bowling alley, a squash room, a golf-simulator room, a hammam room, a theater, a dog spa, a human spa, a billiard room, a ping pong room, a rock-climbing room, a crossfit room, a dance room, a wine and cigar room, a lap pool, a kiddie pool, and even a yoga room. The features will be comprehensive.
In terms of square footage, the commercial components will take up 23,946 square feet, while the residential portion will measure 912,762 square feet, with a total of 787 units. Floor plans will be fairly standardized, with the penthouse level — 68 stories up — shared by seven apartments; the Schedule A has additional details.
Extell’s undertaking represents a major positive shift for the neighborhood, and will hopefully become a game-changer for the far Lower East Side; the area was completely ravaged by Robert Moses, and everything along the East River was razed to make way for public housing as well as middle-income developments. The resulting housing stock is anti-urban, unattractive, and ultimately wasteful of prime Manhattan real estate, with existing residents isolated from the city at large.
250 South Street aerial, via Google Maps
While 250 South Street will be a step in the right direction, restoring the street grid and re-building the entire neighborhood in an attractive way for both existing and future residents should be the ultimate goal. Moses’ path of destruction extends from The Brooklyn Bridge all the way to 14th Street, and while The Hudson Yards may provide a boon to commercial real estate, the far East Side of Lower Manhattan represents a significantly larger opportunity with regards to residential development, and fully utilizing the public canvas would be in the city’s best interest.
250 South Street will become an icon of progress for a neighborhood that has nearly been forgotten, and the tower will stand 800 feet to its pinnacle. While surrounding progress will be slow to come by, re-building the adjacent blocks would be in everyone’s best interest, and Extell’s development will hopefully spark a wider renaissance.
No completion date has been announced, but demolition of the existing Pathmark is imminent; construction will soon begin.
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