An over century-old former hotel on the Upper West Side is in for some major changes. Earlier this week, it was announced that the former Willard Hotel at 252 West 76th Street, since converted to 60 rental apartments, will become a 52-unit luxury building known as The Willard.
Property owner Shaya Labin, doing business as an anonymous Brooklyn-based LLC, has filed applications for a four-story, 10-unit residential building at 481 East 21st Street, in Flatbush. The project will measure 10,970 square feet and its residential units should average 933 square feet apiece, which means either condominiums or rentals could be in the works. Some of the apartments will also feature space either in the cellar or on an upper penthouse level. Michael Avramides’s Midtown East-based architectural firm is the architect of record. The 40-foot-wide, 3,200-square-foot lot is currently occupied by a two-and-a-half-story house. Demolition permits haven’t been filed. The Cortelyou Road stop on the Q train is seven blocks away.
Steel work is now underway on the ground floor of the five-story, 64-unit mixed-use building being developed at 29-10 Broadway, located between 29th and 30th streets in the heart of Astoria. The update is possible thanks to photos posted to the YIMBY Forums. The latest permits indicate an 87,372-square-foot building is in the works. The ground floor will contain 15,940 square feet of commercial-retail space, followed by residential units on the floors above. The units should average 688 square feet apiece, indicative of rental apartments. Amenities will include bike storage, a 32-car underground garage, laundry facilities, a lounge, a fitness center, and terraces on the fourth, fifth, and rooftop levels. Bronx-based Jestam Realty is the developer and Aufgang Architects is the architect of record. Completion is expected in early 2017.
Adaptive reuse is more than a buzzword. It’s one big way for cities to keep their pasts from ending up in landfills. Structures for which the originally intended use is no longer viable are converted for another purpose.
Peter Poon Architects have designed nearly two dozen hotels across the city, and now another one of their glassy structures is coming to the area near Penn Station. Mayflower Business Group has filed new building applications for a 24-story hotel at 319 West 35th Street, between Eighth and Ninth avenues.
