At number 25 on our annual countdown of the tallest construction projects in New York is 5 West 13th Street, a forthcoming 538-foot-tall residential skyscraper in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by Legion Investment Group and EJS Group, the 30-story structure will span 111,022 square feet and yield 36 condominium units with an average scope of 3,020 square feet. The project will also include 2,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space with two storefronts. The through-lot property is alternately addressed as 8–12 West 14th Street and located between West 13th and West 14th Streets, near Fifth Avenue and Union Square.
The former midcentury occupant of the site was fully razed since our last update in mid-October, when only the lower levels remained standing. Crews are now in the process of dismantling the last few steel members along the eastern side of the lot, which sits covered in a layer of rubble from the demolition. The sidewalk shed, scaffolding, and black netting have been removed from the northern and southern frontages.
5 West 13th Street. Photo by Michael Young.
5 West 13th Street. Photo by Michael Young.
5 West 13th Street. Photo by Michael Young.
5 West 13th Street. Photo by Michael Young.
5 West 13th Street. Photo by Michael Young.
5 West 13th Street. Photo by Michael Young.
No finalized renderings have been revealed for the project with the exception of the axonometric diagrams below, first showcased by CityRealty in early August. The left drawing shows the southern profile facing West 13th Street, while the right diagram shows the northern elevation along West 14th Street. The building begins with a two-story podium spanning the entire parcel, with a porte-cochère entrance along West 13th Street leading to a motor courtyard. A rectangular cutout is present on the opposite northern side of the podium roof, likely indicating the presence of a swimming pool.
The skyscraper will rise from the center of the lot with a fairly slender massing incorporating cutouts at the northeast and southwest corners. A handful of shallow setbacks are located within the corner cuts. A series of cascading setbacks begins at the 26th story, creating ample space for private terraces on the upper stories, and the building culminates in a tiered crown that steps upward to the south. Several double-height levels are indicated throughout the height of the skyscraper and will likely house mechanicals. Possible façade materials remain unclear at the moment, but the diagrams do appear to depict the exterior with an undulating geometry.
5 West 13th Street. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox.
Residential amenities will include a fitness center, swimming pool, golf simulator, pet grooming room, library and lounge, seven enclosed parking spaces, and bicycle storage.
The site is located in close proximity to Union Square to the east, providing convenient access to the 4, 5, 6, N, Q, R W, and L trains. Also nearby to the west are the F, M, and L trains at the 14th Street station to the west along Sixth Avenue.
A construction timeline and anticipated completion date for 5 West 13th Street have yet to be announced.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Thanks to Michael Young for the photos! It’s amazing to see inside older buildings. The steel for the demolished building looks impressively overbuilt for what it was. The brick buildings on the lot line are a reminder of just how fragile and outdated so much of the older building stock in the city actually is.
Is this located next to the Quad movie theater?
North side of the street, Quad is on south zide, on a diagonal.
Doesn’t make sense on that block in THAT neighborhood!
The massing diagrams are really beautiful. I’ll be watching this one.
When this is finished everyone will understand what all those concerns about the street wall were about.
The axonometric diagrams have whetted my curiosity, can’t wait to see a rendering..but you think a swimming pool right on top of that two story podium, right over 14th street..really?
It throws one off when you show the west 14th street buildings when talking about a West 13th Street address. Just sayin’.
Did you not see the multiple photos taken from West 13th Street?
Lately, KPF has been designing some really terrible and bizarre buildings. We can only hope this latest setback structure won’t be another design setback.
At over 500 feet tall, it’ll tallest building in area, are they violating the zoning laws?
Please move the tower to the west 14 st part of the project
For a project like this, putting the tower and its entrance on West 13th would offer better privacy for residents when being dropped off instead of dealing with the noise and constant flow of buses down West 14th.
why give up all that apt space to set the tower back from the streetwall? this could turn out looking like those cheap mid block hotels in midtown that do that.
They’re just following the zoning formula laid out by the 1961 Zoning Code, which is quite frequently detrimental to common sense design and urbanism.
What’s that saying about the road to Hell?
why has the zoning NOT been corrected since 1961.
We have learned alot since then.
Not one mayor or city council has ever brought it up?
of course the next one couldn’t care less about the physical city
Must you inject bitter and hysterical partisanship into everything. You have no idea that he “couldn’t care less about the physical city.” I predict he’ll be a surprisingly excellent steward of the city’s architecture and urbanism.
Mid block madness
bulk of building and tower should be on 14th street – wide street.
mid rise on 13th street – far more residential and lower scale now.
A no brainer and how zoning should actually work .
this developer is doing something nice and contextual at. Gramercy Park. Lets hope they do the right thing here too.
Prices will probably start at 300% AMI
they are for sale. none of that social engineering that makes housing only expensive for everyone. Government overreach. you make less, thats your choice, it doesnt get you a free pass for in demand real estate. See the U.S. Consitutution.
Show up at closing with the funds, the apt is yours.
That is how it works.
They were smart to show just the building rendering out of context. It must be drastically out of scale in that context.
A word to concerned neighborhood activist types: the problem isn’t the scale, it’s the horrid massing that ignores the streetwall and makes no effort to sensitively exist in the existing urban fabric.
Only 36 condominium units! wtf!? I’m fine with the height if the density is higher.