It will be out with the old and in with the new in a historic part of Chelsea. On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved demolition of the existing structures at 21 West 17th Street and 16 West 18th Street and the construction of new residential buildings to replace them. The site is between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District.
As New York City’s Housing Authority tries to dig itself out of a $60 million budget deficit, the agency has filed plans for an 18-story residential building on the parking lot of one of its old projects, the mid-1960s Fulton Houses in Chelsea.
In March of 2015, the Amirian Group acquired, for $28.5 million, the vacant four-story commercial building at 117 West 21st Street, in Chelsea, with plans to redevelop the property into a 12-story, nine-unit residential building. Now, new details and renderings of the project, being dubbed The Twenty 1, have been revealed in a Curbed NY report. The existing structure is being expanded by eight stories to accommodate 32,541 square feet of residential space. The apartments, which will be condominiums, should average a spacious 3,616 square feet apiece. There will be six full-floor units, two duplex penthouses, and one townhouse. Amenities include private residential storage, a five-car parking garage, and a rooftop terrace. GRADE Architecture is designing the building and is serving as the architect of record.
Hong Kong-based Gemini Investments is in contract to acquire the single-story, 14,000-square-foot commercial building at 531-537 Sixth Avenue and the four-story mixed-use building at 539 Sixth Avenue, in southern Chelsea. The investment firm is paying $53 million for the assemblage, according to The Real Deal. The properties are located at the corner of West 14th Street, and if both existing buildings are demolished, the site can accommodate up to 60,566 square feet of mixed-use development. The single-story building is currently vacant, although the four-story mixed-use building is occupied by a retail tenant and a few residential units. Plans for the site have not been disclosed. Neither demolition permits nor new buildings applications have yet been filed.
Back in 2002, the Moinian Group acquired, for an undisclosed amount, the 19,750-square-foot lot at 220 Eleventh Avenue, located between West 25th and 26th streets in West Chelsea. Since then, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has constructed what appears to be a ventilation system for the 7 Subway Extension on the northern end of the lot. Now, we can bring you news that the developer is moving forward with development of the site. Planned is a mixed-use project, with condominiums and a space for a cultural institution, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The project was one of the last that Zaha Hadid personally designed before she unexpectedly passed away earlier this year. The site can accommodate up to 187,820 square feet of new mixed-use development. Construction is expected to get underway in early 2017.
