All articles by Heather Cooper Vivares

March 28, 2016

Toll Brothers Top Off West Village Development at St. Luke in the Fields’ Courtyard

Last November, 6sqft reported that Toll Brothers' upcoming residential building 100 Barrow Street had just made its way above ground to street level. Now just four months later, the West Village development has topped off at 12 stories and 130 feet. As pictured above, the building’s bare concrete skeleton  still has a way to go, but it's expected to be finished sometime late this year or early next year. Since it's part of the the Greenwich Village Historic District, the building's designers, Barry Rice Architects, had to win approvals from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The lower half will be clad in Flemish brick to match the neighborhood's 19th century aesthetic, while the top will be sheathed in a glass curtain wall with bronze-metallic panels.
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January 25, 2016

First Look at JDS Development’s Boutique Condos Coming to Williamsburg

Near the Williamsburg waterfront and steps away from Bushwick Inlet Park (home to the famed Smorgasburg), Largo Investments and minority partner JDS Development have hatched plans to build a boutique condominium building at 71-73 North 7th Street. The four-story, 15,000-square-foot development will expand upon the structural bones of an existing single-story building, ultimately creating four capacious apartments.
More details on the project
January 24, 2016

Friedland Properties Finally Settles on Design of 2230 Broadway

Foundation work continues apace on Friedland Properties' and Rose Associates' upcoming 72-unit apartment tower at the southeast corner of Broadway and West 80th Street. Tentatively addressed as 2230 Broadway, the building will rise 18 stories and 227 feet to its rooftop stair bulkhead. This stretch of Broadway on the Upper West Side enforces a 210-foot height cap (to its highest occupiable floor) to keep new developments in scale with their surrounding historic context. According to building permits, Stephen B. Jacobs Group are the architects. Evidently, the project has gone through several iterations of design, but it seems the team has settled on this recently posted conservative red brick building with a light stone base and cornice lines. The new rendering is also in line with DOB filings and an elevation posted at the construction site.
More on the building
January 15, 2016

Introducing Astoria’s Newest Rental Building: The ‘L’ @ 31st Drive

Future Astoria renters, meet The "L" @ 31st Drive. Located on a sedate block at 23-36 31st Drive, the "L" is a brand-new 22-unit building with rentals ranging from $2,000/month studios to $3,200/month two-bedrooms. The design hewn by Gerald Caliendo Architects features a modern concrete and glass exterior rising five stories in height. Complementing its streamlined exterior, interiors boast floor-to-ceiling windows, light hardwood floors, clean white walls, and stainless steel appliances.
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November 20, 2015

Construction Update: 100 Barrow Street Rises Above Street Level From St. Luke’s Churchyard

With the foundation finally laid, Toll Brothers' 100 Barrow Street has made its way above ground and will bring 35 brand new apartments to the West Village. The tower is being built on the site of a pre-existing parking lot on the full-block grounds of the Church of St. Luke in the Fields. While no demolition of existing structures or reduction of green space was necessary, the site does lie at the western edge of the Greenwich Village Historic District and across from the Archives Building, which is an individual landmark. Proceeds from the development will be used to fund the church's own new buildings, which include an expansion of its existing private school and the construction of a new mission where L.G.B.T.Q. homeless youth and under-served individuals can receive meals and shelter. The latter will also serve as a 24/7 drop-in center where people will be able to get a change of clothes and take showers.
More details and renderings this way
November 6, 2015

Construction Update: FXFowle’s Circle-Hugging Harlem Condominium Rises Over Central Park

Artimus Construction's upcoming Harlem condo development Circa Central Park is rapidly rising skyward. After lengthy site remediation work due to a pre-existing BP gas station, the structure is finally above ground and already beginning to frame its sixth floor. Ultimately, the building will stand 11 stories/140 feet high and will contain some 126,362 square feet of total floor area. Artimus picked up the 13,500-square-foot site at 2040 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (285 West 110th Street) for $25 million in late 2013 after being selected through a bidding process conducted by the city's Economic Development Corporation. As part of the deal, Artimus must build space for the local Millennium Dance Company, which will occupy 8,000 square feet of the ground floor, and 20 percent of the building's 51 apartments must be designated as affordable housing.
More details ahead
September 8, 2015

First Look at the Gibraltar, Newest Addition to the Greenpoint Waterfront

Another residential building has been called to join the ranks of the Greenpoint waterfront. Located at 160 West Street, the six-story condo is known as the Gibraltar. Permits filed a year ago claimed 13 apartments and 16,198 square feet, but according to developer Saddle Rock Equities, it will house 14 apartments over 20,000 square feet. Designed by architect Joe Eisner, the bulky grey building stands out for its oversized balconies and abundance of rooftop space.
More on the development and new renderings
August 16, 2015

Construction Begins on Bushwick’s AnX Artist Lofts by Gene Kaufman

Construction has begun on a cross-braced, utilitarian artists' space in the heart of Bushwick at 13 Grattan Street. According to the Wall Street Journal, after the great success of the adjacent artist production studio space The BogArt in 2005, contemporary patrons of the arts Marianne and Ted Hovivian decided to meet the growing demand for affordable work and exhibition space with a new 40,000-square-foot building. The mixed-use development will be divided between 23,000 square feet of artist lofts on the second through fourth floors and an additional 8,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.
More details here
August 9, 2015

Construction Update: Williamsburg’s 95 South Fifth Tops Out

After breaking ground earlier this year, Horrigan Development and Pilot Real Estate Group’s 95 South Fifth Street has already topped out. Although the site’s pre-war building is not landmarked, Standard Architects is preserving the industrial heritage aesthetic by incorporating the facade of the former three-story brick warehouse into the new 6,500-square-foot addition. The 26,500-square-foot renovation will be split between 18,000 square feet of residential space, plus a small 675-square foot commercial space that will be used as a restaurant at the base.
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July 24, 2015

Construction Update: Tribeca’s ‘Jenga Tower’ 56 Leonard Tops Out

Last January, 6sqft reported on the the progress of Alexico Group /Hines' project 56 Leonard: The concrete structure was around 700 feet tall with little more than 100 feet to rise. Now, alas, the 821-foot Tribeca tower, playfully known as "the Jenga building" and designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, has finally topped out! With a delivery date expected sometime next year, all that remains for its wacky floor plate configurations and erratic cantilevered projections is the remainder of its exterior cladding, which we hear will now also progress from the top down, and the interior fit-out of its 145 residences.
More details this way