80 White Street in September 2014, image via Google Maps

Landmarked Chinatown Warehouse at 80 White Street Set to Become Offices, Apartment

6:30 am on March 9, 2016 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

A 150-year-old landmarked warehouse at 80 White Street in Chinatown is about to become offices, retail, and one apartment.

Alteration plans were filed with the Department of Buildings yesterday to convert the six-story loft building between Broadway and Lafayette Street. Construction tool manufacturing company General Tools has occupied the building for decades, and the firm’s former chairman, Gerald Weinstein, has owned the property for at least 40 years. Tax photos from the ’70s show the firm’s name emblazoned above the cast iron columns on the ground floor.

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821 United Nations Plaza

Reveal For 32-Story Turkish Consulate-General Building At 821 United Nations Plaza, Midtown East

6:00 am on March 9, 2016 By Reid Wilson

The Republic of Turkey is moving forward with a new consulate-general building, dubbed the Turkevi Center, at 821 United Nations Plaza, located on the corner of East 46th Street in Midtown East. Curbed NY has renderings of the Perkins Eastman-designed 32-story, 200,000-square-foot mixed-use complex, which will contain office space and residential units. The residential units are being built to accommodate staff and visitors, and the facility will have passport and visa offices. Amenities will include conference rooms, a prayer room, a gym, an auditorium, and an underground parking garage. The new building would replace Turkey’s existing 12-story facility as well as the vacant lot at 344 East 46th Street. Neither new building applications nor demolition permits have yet been filed.

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42-43 27th Street

Excavation Begins For Six-Story, Eight-Unit Mixed-Use Project At 42-43 27th Street, Long Island City

4:00 pm on March 8, 2016 By Reid Wilson

In December of 2014, YIMBY reported on filings for a six-story, eight-unit mixed-use building at 42-43 27th Street, in the Queens Plaza section of Long Island City. Then in the spring of 2015, the single-story occupant was demolished. Now, The Court Square Blog reports that excavation work is underway and a schematic drawing of the new building is posted on-site. Chang Hwa Tang’s Flushing-based Tan Architect is responsible for the design of the 9,372-square-foot project. There will be 1,450 square feet of ground-floor retail space and the residential units should average a rental-sized 694 square feet apiece. Xi Zhao, doing business as a Rego Park-based LLC, is the developer. Completion is expected in the summer of 2017.

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249 East Park Avenue

23-Unit Conversion Proposed For Four-Story Office Building At 249 East Park Avenue, Long Beach

3:00 pm on March 8, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Property owner Alan Pilevsky is seeking to convert the former four-story, 16,000-square-foot office building at 249 East Park Avenue, in Long Beach, Long Island, into 23 residential units. The LI Herald reports the building was vacated by Long Beach Medical Center after Hurricane Sandy and has since sat empty. The apartments will be a mix of studio and one-bedrooms. The size of the building and the property’s 24 motor vehicle parking spots will remain unchanged, although the structure will receive major renovations including a new façade and an entrance ramp (to meet federal laws). Later this week, the Zoning Board of Appeals is expected to vote on multiple variances for the project, the major one being the allowance of residential use in a commercial zone. The Nassau County Planning Commission is also required to approve the project and is expected to vote on it in March. Long Island-based Ferraro Robert Phillip Architect is designing.

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664 Rutland Road

Two Four-Story, Eight-Unit Residential Buildings Filed At 664 Rutland Road, East Flatbush

2:00 pm on March 8, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Mordechai Schwimmer, doing business as a Brooklyn-based LLC, has filed applications for two four-story, eight-unit residential buildings at 664-668 Rutland Road, in northern East Flatbush, located a few blocks from the SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Each building will encompass 5,453 square feet, and residential units in both buildings will average 652 square feet apiece, indicative of rentals. Laundries will be located in the cellar. Mt. Vernon, N.Y.-based Jeffrey Sandor Orling is the architect of record. The 48-foot-wide plot of land is currently vacant, although vegetation will first have to be removed.

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