Late last year, YIMBY posted a video featuring renderings of plans for a new 63-story residential tower at 118 Fulton Street. The design featured in the film was originally created for the Lightstone Group, which sold off 112-118 Fulton Street to Carmel Partners last September for $171 million. But while the site’s developer has changed, its appearance has seemingly stayed the same, and a new on-site rendering (as well as a tipster’s submission) confirms that a design similar to the one previously posted will be built.
118 Fulton Street, fence rendering
The site originally comprised the lots spanning 112-120 Fulton Street, but an issue with 421-a resulted in its downsizing. Nevertheless, the new tower will still be rather substantial, and new building applications indicate it will stand 49 stories tall, with the rooftop bulkheads topping-out 574 feet above street level.
In terms of scope, the building will be divided between a 49,941-square-foot commercial component, and 470,896 square feet of residential space. The latter will be split between 483 apartments, and with the average unit clocking in at under 1,000 square feet, rental apartments would appear to be more likely than condominiums.
The actual design is rather bland, but with so many new towers going up in the vicinity, the building should act as simple filler. Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel is the design architect, and SLCE is the architect of record.
The old video showed a 65-story building, which has been scaled down somewhat, though the facade will be nearly the same. While the impact of the glassy box on the skyline will be minimal, its effects on the streetscape down below will be both beneficial and significant, injecting another component that will help complete Fulton Street’s transition into a mixed-use corridor.
One block west, ODA is designing a 40-story tower for Lexin Capital that will also stand approximately the same height at 75 Nassau Street. And across the street, Lightstone Group bought 130 William almost immediately after selling 118 Fulton, and new building applications have already been filed for yet another 50-story tower.
Lightstone’s page on the project describes the follow-up to Carmel’s acquisiton thusly:
Though Lightstone is a long-term holder, it was approached unsolicited by a large investor with an offer to buy the property at a substantial profit. The assemblage, coupled with the shovel ready site, and advanced building design and construction plans provided the investor with a major advantage in terms of the speed in which they could execute the development and construction schedule.
Evidently this is why plans appear almost the same as before. Per signage, completion is expected by the end of 2018, and foundation work is already well underway.
112-118 Fulton Street
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Wait, what? I’m so confused. Which design is being built? The rendering at the top and the one below it (the on-site sign) look completely different. I’ve read this three times and I still can’t figure out if you’re saying they look the same (they most definitely do not) or which is the newer rendering. The post about the video shows something like the second rendering, so what on earth is the one at the top?