626 First Avenue

Two-Towered, 800-Unit Residential Complex Tops Out At 626 First Avenue, Murray Hill

It was in December that YIMBY last brought you a construction update on the two-towered, 800-unit residential development under construction at 626 First Avenue, between East 35th and 36th streets in Murray Hill. The residential towers – now standing 41 and 48 stories – have since topped out, as seen in photos by Tectonic. The apartment units should average 906 square feet apiece and will be accompanied by 94,700 square feet of amenities, including a 38,000-square-foot public park. There will also be 4,100 square feet of ground-floor retail space. JDS Development Group is the developer of the 825,000-square-foot complex, and SHoP Architects is behind the design. Completion is expected in early 2017.

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Long Island Offshore Wind Farms

81,000 Acres of Ocean South of Long Island Designated for Offshore Wind Farming

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has proposed an 81,000-acre swath of the Atlantic Ocean located 11 miles south of Long Beach, Long Island, to be the site of future wind energy development. The area could be turned into an offshore wind farm, but not before a lengthy approval process is complete, according to the LI Herald. A developer would first have to design plans to build a wind farm, then lease a given area, trek through the required review steps, and obtain the proper approvals, at which point construction could finally begin. The entire process is estimated to take 10 years from start to finish. At this point, BOEM will conduct an environmental assessment to study the impacts of leasing the area. In 2013, BOEM launched a Request for Interest to gage the desirability to build wind farms. Multiple developers, including the New York Power Authority, have expressed interest.

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213 East 125th Street

14-Story, 80-Unit Mixed-Use Building Filed At 213 East 125th Street, East Harlem

This past December, the city launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the commercial development site at 2325 Third Avenue, in East Harlem. The plot is part of the mixed-use mega-development E125 that will turn two blocks, the ones bound by East 125th and 127th streets and Second and Third avenues, into roughly 1,000 residential units, up to 700,000 square feet of commercial space, and at least 30,000 square feet of community facilities. The Real Deal reports property owner Park-It Management is filings applications to move forward with another piece of the project at 213 East 125th Street. The existing two-story, nearly 20,000-square-foot commercial property will be expanded into a 14-story, 80-unit mixed-use building. The 96,539-square-foot structure will include 19,211 square feet of commercial-retail on the ground and second floors, and 6,212 square feet of community space on third floor. The apartment units should average 889 square feet apiece. SRA Architecture + Engineering will be designing.

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180 Beach 127th Street

Two Three-Story, Two-Family Houses Coming To 180 Beach 127th Street, Belle Harbor

Charles McInnis, doing business as an anonymous Brooklyn-based LLC, has filed applications for two three-story, two-family residential buildings at 176-180 Beach 127th Street, in Belle Harbor, located on Queens’s Rockaway Peninsula. Both buildings will measure 3,000 square feet apiece, and in each structure, there will be one apartment on the ground floor and a second unit across the second and third floors. If the residential space is divvied up as such, there should be two 1,000-square-foot and two 2,000-square-foot units. Norman C. Lok’s Middle Village-based architecture firm is the applicant of record. Back in November, the site’s former dilapidated and Hurricane Sandy-ravaged two-and-a-half-story house was demolished.

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