Back in July, we lamented the somewhat tepid growth along West 14th Street in Manhattan, whose lackluster brownstones belie its importance as one of Manhattan’s most important and transit-accessible crosstown corridors. The zoning unfortunately does not allow any towers to sprout, but as redevelopment pressure grows, we’re starting to see some mid-rises pop up.
An 11-story condo building at 251 West 14th Street, on the north side of the street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, should be among them, if a new building application from yesterday comes to fruition. Submitted by Eran Chen’s ODA Architecture – whose signature boxy style is getting a lot of attention from New York City developers, bringing upscale modernism to neighborhoods from East Harlem to Williamsburg, and everything in between – the permit filing calls for 11 units spread over nearly 20,000 square feet of net residential space, for an average apartment size of around 1,775 square feet, with no parking or commercial space for the 24-foot lot.
The permit was filed on behalf of Ilan Bracha, chairman of Keller Williams’s New York franchise, and Haim Binstock. Their website describes a 10-story building planned for the site with full-floor apartments and a penthouse duplex. While it makes no mention of whether the property will be condos or rentals, the market and unit sizes strongly suggest to us that it will be the former.
The site is currently home to a 4.5-story Spanish Colonial walk-up, purchased earlier this year from the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard (on the south side of West 14th, between Eighth and Ninth avenues) for $7.5 million. A demolition permit for the structure has yet to be filed.
While 11 stories is still not befitting of West 14th Street’s stature or context – there’s a 20-story pre-war office building right on the corner – ODA’s project will still be a big step up from what’s there now.
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