Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty Trust want to build a 23-story apartment building at 4650 Broadway, right next to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters in Washington Heights. But first, they need a major upzoning from the city. YIMBY uncovered renderings of what the 500,000-square-foot tower could look like in newly posted zoning documents.
The City Planning Commission discussed initial plans for the mixed-use development earlier this week. The project, dubbed Sherman Plaza, would be the first one affected by the mayor’s new mandatory inclusionary housing (MIH) policy, which requires builders to set aside at least a quarter of their apartments as affordable housing if they want to build on rezoned land. In exchange for the rezoning, the developers said they would rent 25 or 30 percent of the apartments at below-market rates.
The documents outline two different proposals for the development, which would be one of the largest new buildings constructed in upper Manhattan in decades. The smaller plan calls for a 23-story, 335-unit building with 25,000 square feet of retail and 15,000 square feet of community facilities. Roughly 100 affordable units would be rented through a lottery to families who make up to 80 percent of the Area Median Income, or $62,150 for a family of three.
The rendering above shows that plan, and the massing isn’t exactly ideal. That’s because it doesn’t take into account the design flexibility built into the city’s new zoning tweaks, known as Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA).
4650 Broadway, rendering via Sherman Acadia Ave LLC/DCP
The renderings make a strong argument for a taller, thinner building that wouldn’t block as much light. And it would include more affordable housing. With ZQA and MIH, the development would get a boost to 27 stories and 435 apartments, 142 of which would rent for below-market rates. There would also be 41,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 54,700 square feet of community facilities on the second and third floors. It would reach 280 feet into the air.
4650 Broadway, rendering via Sherman Acadia Ave LLC/DCP
Without the rezoning, the developers plan to put up a 10-story, 172-unit building. It would have essentially the same amount of retail and community facilities as proposal no. two. And the rentals would be completely market-rate.
While we don’t know how closely the finished building will resemble these designs, we do like how the structure takes advantage of the wedge-shaped site. The lot – and its current structure – have an unusual rounded corner. So the new development could have a rounded, Art Deco-style base that mirrors its predecessor.
A two-story parking lot with a U-Haul rental currently occupies the property at the corner of Broadway, Sherman Avenue, and Ellwood Street. Demolition plans have not yet been filed to knock down the 75,000-square-foot building.
4650 Broadway has just started making its way through the public approval process, which will take six months and require votes from the local community board, the borough board and the City Planning Commission. Even if the developers line up their permits and zoning quickly, we don’t expect construction to start until mid-2017 or later.
4650 Broadway, rendering via Sherman Acadia Ave LLC/DCP
Massing diagram of 4650 Broadway, via Sherman Acadia Ave LLC/DCP
Massing diagram of 4650 Broadway, via Sherman Acadia Ave LLC/DCP
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This addition would put MMA in even stronger competition with MOMA;while MOMA is hugely expensive for visitors, MMA is a NYC museum and therefore has a pay what you can afford entrance fee with a suggested amount that you don’t have to give. So MMA can be visited weekly by art lovers at minimal expense while MOMA has become for the elite only.
I will like to get a 3 room apartment for my family.I have 4 children and a very low income…
I would like to get one bedroom apartment. How I can apply?
I grew up in the neighborhood would love to rent an apartment when done looks beautiful can’t wait to see the finish project please email me info on how I can rent thank you
This building better be built Union
Yes. It had better be.
who cares about unions?
This is a Travesty, this project will face a major pushback from the community..you will not come and impose this disrespectful project in a community that is struggling with tenants that cant afford the rent hikes.. try building this in Bensonhurst see what they think..
I love how it will look how can I apply?
There is no Uhaul Location. It was brief set up. Did not work. Focus on BK stay out of here.
Keep your bullshit in Brooklyn DeBlasio. We don’t want it here.
This would be super cool. Would love to rent a 3 bedroom for my family. Where do we sign up ?
I live one block from there; don’t want it and it it isn’t a fit for our neighborhood. Hoping it never happens.
LOVE IT.. can’t wait to see the transformation it will have in this lovely neighborhood. It will change the area dramatically, I welcome it with open arms, I live like 3 blocks from here.
I grew up in Washington Height until 79 and do people really think De Blasio and the real estate company is really considering helping low income family come on they are pushing everyone out already.. look at the old stores that have been there for years having to leave. This re gentrification is going to help the low income NO… So even though I don’t live there anymore I can see what the out come will be and it will be a sad one for the people who can’t afford it.. Once all that is done it will no longer be Washington Height they are already trying to change the name. yes make the neighborhood nice again clean it up but do it because the people of the neighborhood get together and do it not some big fancy Realtor and this dumb ass Mayor….
De blasio and all assembly we don’t need this shit . Stop pocketing my free money from these building owner and just say no . Who are you to just say yes when just came to the country the another day and we have people here with more then 25,30,40 , 50 years living here and you assembly Dany and assembly españat . So we the community don’t need this shit here . And I’ll expose all board member that are taking money under the table .
I will like to rent an apartment there i grow up oround there please let me know when is done
This is straight BS! Theres no better way to put it. How can anyone sit here, read this article and think for a second that this “development” is for the best of this community? How blind can you be? Ok, they’ll have “affordable apartments” but they fail to mention how they can increse your rent through out the years. Or how they are legally able to terminate your lease because of one of their ridiculous rules. Ppl of this community WAKE UP! Dont be blinded by this nice drawings and fancy wording of BS. If you really are from this neighborhood then you’ll agree that this is truly sad. What this Mayor and ppl of power plan to do is ultimately “clean up” washington heights. Rid it of its negativity etc but in reality THEY are the real problem. Instead of building these types of developements why not preserve the history and do rehabs on these 100+ yr old structures. These structures were here when our forefathers fought for our freedoms. Why tear this down? For what? Lets stand united and stop this ridiculous idea in its tracks.
This is the old Packard Dealership and then it was a welfare office and then a Uhaul and now an EYESORE. I live on West 190th and before then W.181st. I love the neighborhood, Fort Tryon and the Cloisters. This is progress for the neighborhood. My building was built in 2010 and while I’d prefer the prewar and Art Deco stock of the hood, it has been great living in a newer building. The area has changed drastically in the past 5 years and the city is upgrading the infrastructure. My street has been repaved and sidewalks widened (slowly). These projects will bring some new faces to the hood and not have it slide back to the crappy times in the 80’s and 90’s. Gentrification is not a bad thing. There is always the Bronx and Queens. I work hard, full time to afford my apartment, clean up my dogs poop and don’t use EBT at the Fine Fare. We need more folks like me. Trust me. This building will be a game changer and I might love an apartment with a park view.
Would be a great asset to the area!
Would be a great development for Inwood (which is what most residents consider this area, despite being below Dyckman Street), in any of the three versions described. Will face a very rough ride from the community board, anti-density people and affordable housing activists (who consider 80% AMI nowhere near affordable enough). But this site has stagnated for years and it is hard to argue against never developing anything on it, ever.
I lived in the area for 10 years, and saw many plans for new buildings never come to fruition. The neighborhood could really use some more amenities and new construction, but it seems like they ultimately fail to get built. It’s a sleepy neighborhood with a lot of charm, but unfortunately you have to be ready to hop on the A train downtown for any social outlet as there are very few options up there. So unless you’re happy staying home all the time and watching TV, you start to feel like you’re living on the A train (at night it’s local so be ready for a long ride). If something like this gets built, and in turn attract more commercial establishments to cater to new residents, maybe things will begin to change.
This is Awesome… But, how much would the Apartments be… Would most be able to afford it or Is it for those that now can’t afford to live downtown… Will be moving uptown and making it harder for those already in Washington Heights to move in this project…
One of the great treasures of Washington Hts. is that it is HIGH! Maybe that sounds funny, but in a city almost completely dominated and controlled by human forms- buildings, streets, etc.- I am still reminded in the Heights every day that Mother Nature rules. Just looking out at the “mountains” and hills of Ft.Tryon and Inwood Hill Parks, and even the boulder-lined (sounds funny, I know) streets of Ft.George Hill and Hillside Ave., it is clear there is a natural beauty here.
What is curious to me about “developments” is that it seems the “developer” believes that word implies to “build bigger; build more glass; build higher.” Develop – the word’s origin- actually means to “unveil, unfurl, unwrap.” So I would ask- what is there to unwrap here? To unfurl, to unveil ? What is there to “reveal” on the site already- with the current building, where it stands, and in relation to the beautiful park across the street.
Given the state of this structure, its location in the neighborhood, the people who live nearby, and its proximity to the park, I would agree, there is a huge opportunity to “develop”- to unveil something unbelievable.
The question would be then: what do we want unveil here?
To the “developers”, I would ask- are you really attempting to “unwrap” something with this new project? Do you have an idea of what that would mean? Or are you simply adding more matter to a piece of land in order to gain from that addition.
Sites like this are rare in the city.
I would guess that a property around Central Park of this size does not become available often, if hardly ever.
One might also ask, along those lines, would current zoning laws allow a 23-story building to be built along 5th avenue or CPW at the whim of some developer’s- OK I will say it- greed? On occasion on CPW the answer would be “yes”- in the case of Trump Plaza and the building just to it’s north. And CP South has a large building going up as we speak.
But for the most part, that would be a no. Especially along 5th ave.
There are too many people of power in these neighborhoods to ever let such projects fly.
Uptown that is not the case.
There isn’t the concentration of powerbrokers on the corner of Sherman and Broadway, on Dyckman St., or on Nagle Ave. to truly weigh in on these projects in significant ways; not enough calm voices to know that dangling carrots of affordable housing in exchange for glass towers is not quite an equitable trade, in the long run, where usually the temporary fix and bling of shiny glass and a percentage of affordable apartments gives way to gentrification, and not a whole lot else. And that’s not “all bad” by any stretch of the imagination. With more money comes – more choices, more services; more leisure choices too, including art; all beneficial “developments” of new stuff being built, be the new stuff beautiful, ugly, functional, tall, short, or some mix of these factors.
Let’s just think before acting, before demolishing a part of unique history; before building what looks to be a very typical, ordinary structure; before dwarfing a piece of land that mother nature “developed” over millions of years. A piece of shoddy shiny glass that gives the neighborhood a quick fix, but does perhaps not enough to “revel, unfurl, unwrap” what this neighborhood deserves. It doesn’t even come close to dancing with Mother Nature’s granite giants across the street.
If this proposed building were a dancer at a tango dance and asked Ms. Ft. Tryon to take a whirl on the dancefloor, Mother nature’s gem-of -a-park wouldn’t give this hunk of steel and glass the time of day; they’re just not in the same league [and it’s not just the design or materials or physical structure; it’s the developments ESSENCE…what is being “revelaed”].
I’ve lived in Washington Heights for 10 years. It’s an historic place.
A Revolutionary War battle was fought across the street from this site. Hawks, skunks, raccoons, groundhogs, and even an occasional coyote exist in Ft.Tryon Park; Bald eagles are known to nest in Inwood Hill Park park just several blocks north.
For those who weathered this neighborhood, and thrived in this neighborhood, raised families and loved and lived and died uptown; for the “newcomers,” folks moving here because of the absence of affordability in any other quarter or corner of Manhattan; and for any human soul who loves nature, has a sense of history and self determination, of integrity, and who adores New York and all that is unique about this town; I think we ALL could take a look at this place of “development” – take a moment- pause- and ask ourselves: what is there to reveal here?
Would ancient cultures build higher than the pyramids? Would the citizens of Aspen Colorado build homes up the slopes of Aspen Mountain? Would a “developer” buy lots directly adjacent to the Empire State Building and build higher? Would we string a bridge across Niagara Falls and have a glass-bottom restaurant above the falls?
I don’t think so.
Maybe we’ve controlled and dwarfed mother nature in this city, in this country, in the world for hundreds of years. But now its time to ask- do we need to do that again, dwarf beautiful, ancient, placid Ft.Tryon Park? Or can we honor the space, the city, or sense of peace, growth, and our own evolution by creating something new, honest, open, and line with our owninner development.
Let’s start unveiling, unfurling, unwrapping ideas and creations that reflect this. And let’s start with this space at 2 Sherman Avenue.
Thanks for the info; however, there was no flyer in English or Spanish attached. If there is such a flyer, please send it to me so I can post it in my building – 140 Cabrini Blvd. NYC 10033
Thanks
Building a 23-story glass building in a neighborhood where there are no buildings taller than 8 stories for at least a mile radius and in which most of the buildings are pre-war stone and brick is an architectural travesty.
There is literally nothing in this neighborhood that this building remotely would resemble.
It’s also an aesthetic travesty in the way that Ddylan alludes to in that this site is directly across from one of the last remaining wild natural wonders in Manhattan, the row of cliffs that the Cloisters are on top of.
In both respects, the existing neighborhood of architecture and the existing neighborhood of nature, there is absolutely nothing organic about the way this proposed building would fit in to the environment.
I realize that there are other issues and pressures determining and influencing development in the city, but it’s sad to see Philistines attempting actions in such extreme a manner.
I hope something less invasive is done instead.
There are several taller buildings 800 feet to the southeast.
Lol so many fake comments.
Just build a 8 stories building and everyone will be happy
Guys do you realize what rent price will be? I have my car parked there. So first of I will not be able to park anywhere, secondly I live block over on Broadway in pre war and one bedroom runs now for $2000!! Can you just imagine how much the rent will be in this one? Are you seriously able to afford more then 2 K for one bedroom?? Or are you all poor? Or do you think 100 units will be enough for that street?!!
The request for a 42% density increase (the closest R9 is on 110th St) for a single random lot for no apparent reason goes against the entire intent of zoning. It’s pretty outrageous but I suppose under the current political climate (i.e. you can do anything you want as long as you include a few affordable units) I guess the developer felt encouraged to give it a shot. I don’t see it being allowed – the existing R7 zoning should remain.
Ydanis Rodriguez works for the white and rich.
The entry rent for a studio will be around 2700
A 3 bedroom over 4,600.
He keeps his people drunk while selling them out to City Hall.
There is an existing building, the former Packard dealership) on this site of architectural distinction and value, designed by the renowned architect Albert Kahn.
Additionally this site and whatever is built here is and will be the highly visible focus from Ft.Tryon Park and its overlooks. It is of paramount importance that anything proposed fro this site be designed to recognize this special visibility and role in the general experience of a broad urban landscape from the park overlooks. As such any proposal should be conceived as a properly picturesque feature within an important view of an important general urban landscape. We would be glad to consult on exactly what this project should and must be.
That will be perfet for the neighborhood if it will be afordable rent.l will like to know how much will be one or two bedroom apt. How do l can apply.
Won’t be affordable thanks to the preservationist.
I say build it faster, higher and then build more!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this idea. This area is dying for upgrade.
All the whining locals on here don’t know what a benefit this will be.
I’M A LOCAL, living VERY close to this corner and I gladly welcome it.