A few months after TF Cornerstone won approvals for its massive, 1,000-unit-plus development on the Far West Side, SLCE Architects has filed for building permits for the apartment building at 606 West 57th Street.
The filing puts the building’s total construction area at a whopping 1.2 million square feet, on par with Midtown office towers rather than apartments. Of that, 952,938 square feet will be dedicated to apartments, plus another 40,000 square feet for retail space. The building will rise 42 stories, reaching 440 feet into the air, and will contain 1,028 apartments – meaning it will no longer be in the running for highest unit count in the city. SLCE is the architect of record, but Miami-based Arquitectonica is responsible for design.
606 West 57th Street, image by TF Cornerstone
The tower wraps around a holdout structure on the southwestern corner of 57th Street and 11th Avenue, and will replace a Lexus and Acura car dealership. The area around far West 57th Street is currently in transition from a low-slung car dealership row to a high-rent residential neighborhood, capitalizing on 57th Street’s rising cachet and the revitalization of Columbus Circle three avenues to the west. TF Cornerstone also told YIMBY that they’re looking to see if there’s any community interest in retaining the mid-century neon vertical parking sign on the 57th Street frontage, preserving a bit of the strip’s history and avoiding a repeat of the Kentile controversy in Brooklyn.
Neon sign on West 57th Street, photo from Google Streetview
The permit filing comes after newly-elected Upper West Side councilwoman Helen Rosenthal cut a deal with the developers to make the building’s “affordable” units more accessible to wealthier residents. In exchange for adding about 20 more units of below-market rentals, she allowed TF Cornerstone to up the lowest-priced units’ maximum income restriction from 40 percent of the area median income to 60 percent. She also negotiated a new income band, reserving some units for families making 175 percent to 230 percent of area median income – meaning a family of four must earn between around $147,000 and $193,000 a year to qualify for the lottery for those apartments.
Groundbreaking should occur in the fall, according to the developer.
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