A pair of over century-old combined buildings in SoHo are on their way back to commercial use. Last Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a proposal for 61-63 Crosby Street.
YIMBY revealed preliminary renderings of a planned office building at 420 Albee Square, in Downtown Brooklyn, when the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced the project back in November of 2015. Now, new details are emerging. Dubbed One Willoughby Square, it will measure roughly 500,000 square feet. Kohn Pedersen Fox is responsible for the design, although the final vision is still to be determined, the Wall Street Journal reported. It’s unclear how many floors there will be or how high the building will rise since new building applications have yet to be filed. The developers, JEMB Realty and Forest City Ratner Companies, are currently seeking an anchor tenant. Construction is expected to begin in 2017. The 22,840-square-foot site is currently vacant.
Now that phase one of St. George’s Lighthouse Point project – a 12-story, 116-unit mixed-use building with residential units and commercial space at 35A Bay Street – is under construction and gaining attention, Triangle Equities is shifting focus on to the second phase. The developer has partnered with Starwood Hotel & Resorts for a 12-story, 175-key Westin hotel, which will be built adjacent and connected to one of four existing industrial buildings, the Wall Street Journal reported. The hotel, dubbed the Westin New York Staten Island, will encompass 190,000 square feet and will include 15,000 square feet of event space. Many of its luxury amenities and a restaurant will be located in the industrial building. The other three industrial buildings will be redeveloped into an additional 30,000 square feet of mixed-use commercial space. Perkins Eastman is designing and Andres Escobar is responsible for the interiors, although new building applications haven’t been filed for the hotel. Completion of the hotel is expected in 2019.
Over the summer, the Durst Organization entered into contract to acquire the 36,281-square-foot site at 1800 Park Avenue, located between East 124th and 125th streets in Harlem. The developer has since closed on the purchase for just under $91 million, the New York Post reported. Durst will abandon the ODA New York-designed 24-story, 670-unit mixed-use project (originally 32 stories and 682 units) envisioned by the Continuum Company, the site’s previous owner. Instead, completely new plans will be drawn up, presumably by a different architect. Regardless, the final plans will include a large affordable housing component. Roughly 600,000 square feet of mixed-use space can be built as-of-right. The project is still eligible for the 421-a tax abatement since Continuum technically conducted foundation work at the site.
Property owner Guido Passarelli, doing business as an anonymous Syosset, N.Y.-based LLC, has filed applications for a suburban-esque three-story, 197,333-square-foot commercial-retail building at 165 Bricktown Way, in Charleston, located along Staten Island’s West Shore. The new building will contain retail space on the ground floor, followed by a movie theater on the second floor and an upper mezzanine level. The movie theater will be equipped with a concession stand, a bar/lounge, and offices. It’s unclear how many screens the movie theater will have, or who will run it. Philadelphia-based JKRP Architects is the architect of record. The site measures a whopping 479,290 square feet and is currently vacant.
