Rendering courtesy of the Department of Design and Construction

The $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), designed to protect a section of Manhattan’s east side from flooding, was approved on Thursday in a full City Council vote. The vote is the final City Council approval of the project, which passed the city’s land use committee earlier this week and is the culmination of a long and at-times controversial process. As 6sqft previously reported, the project was born in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and was designed to flood-proof over two miles of Manhattan’s east side between East 25th Street and Montgomery Street and improve waterfront access to waterfront space. According to the city, the ESCR project would protect over 110,000 New Yorkers.

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Images courtesy of QuallsBenson

A few months after it was initially expected, Essex Crossing’s expansive and bazaar-like food hall, The Market Line, finally has an opening date. Phase one of the rollout is set to open its doors to the public on November 22, offering an initial mix of 30+ local vendors and restaurants, including NYC institutions like Ukrainian diner Veselka, family-run German butcher shop and Grocer Schaller & Weber, and 1920s tea parlor and bakery turned hip dim sum eatery Nom Wah.

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Rendering of Essex Crossing via Moso Studio

The New York Times recently suggested that the boxy, ordinary-looking Essex Crossing, with its Trader Joe’s, Target, movieplex, historic Essex Street Market and subsidized affordable housing was the “anti-Hudson Yards,” a convincing foil to the buzzy midtown tourist magnet. The obvious contrast between the glittering far-west-side megaproject that in the right light resembles Dubai on the Hudson and the six-acre $1.9 billion development abutting the Williamsburg Bridge speaks to each one’s intended audience, of course. But a diversity of options for both locals and visitors and a broad offering of affordable housing could make Essex Crossing more than just Liverpool on the Lower East Side.

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Map data © 2019 Google

A developer this month filed an application with the city to build a 30-story condo building next to a landmarked nursing home on the Lower East Side. The plan comes a year after developer Round Square failed to obtain air rights from the Seward Park Cooperative to build two towers at 232 East Broadway, adjacent to the Bialystoker Nursing Home. After ditching the original two-building project, Round Square is now moving forward with a proposed one tower that will contain 54 condos, as Patch reported.

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Photo credit: QuallsBenson

The Essex Crossing mega-development hit another milestone this week, with its seventh building topping out at the Lower East Side site. The mixed-use tower at 202 Broome Street includes 83 luxury condominiums, 175,000 square feet of office space, and 34,500 square feet of retail space. Designed by CetraRuddy, the building joins 242 Broome as the nine-site development’s second condo building.

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Preliminary design of Corlears shared use path; via DDC.

Borough President Gale A. Brewer and Council Member Carlina Rivera announced Thursday the completed report by independent consulting firm Deltares on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR). As 6sqft previously reported, the project was first developed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and is intended to protect 2.2 miles of Manhattan’s East Side, between East 25th Street and Montgomery Street, from flooding and improve access to waterfront space. According to the city, the ESCR project would protect over 110,000 New Yorkers in the area.

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Rendering of the larger, 30-story tower by Dattner Architects

In 2017, the Lower East Side’s abandoned 1850 Beth Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue, which once housed the city’s oldest Jewish Orthodox congregation, was severely damaged in a fire. The following year, the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) and developer Gotham Organization began floating plans for a two-towered, mixed-use development on the site, and they’ve now announced that the project is entering the city’s uniform land use review procedure (ULURP). The plan includes a new headquarters for the CPC, retail space, and 488 new rental units, 208 of which will be permanently affordable with 115 set aside for affordable senior housing. Dattner Architects will also incorporate the remains of the former synagogue into a new meeting space and cultural heritage center for the congregation.

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Rendering by Family New York, Courtesy of Friends of +POOL

Swimming in the East River may once again become a reality. The city’s Economic Development Corporation is seeking ideas for a floating pool that would filter the water of the East River to allow for safe swimming, according to a request for expressions of interest (RFEI) released Wednesday. A similar idea was first announced in 2010 by the nonprofit +POOL, which has been working with the city for years, as THE CITY first reported. The pool would likely be built between the north side of Brooklyn Bridge and the south side of Pier 35 on the Lower East Side, according to the request.

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View of Colors in 2013. Map data ©2013 Google.

COLORS restaurant in downtown Manhattan was originally founded by employees of the Windows on the World restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center, and employed many restaurant workers who lost their jobs on the day of the terrorist attacks. COLORS closed in 2017, closing the door on an establishment that had helped survivors to thrive. Now, am New York reports, on the 18th anniversary of the attacks, that the restaurant is re-opening in October.

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Rendering of 118 Orchard Street by Gorlin Architects; View of former Moscot HQ via Google Street View

A lottery has opened for nine mixed-income units at the new residential building rising in the Lower East Side at the corner of Orchard and Delancey. The new construction at 118 Orchard Street replaced the iconic Moscot eyeglasses store that had been there for 77 years until it moved across the street. The 12-story building topped out earlier this summer and will comprise 24 apartments in total. Individuals and households earning 70 to 130 percent of the area median income are eligible to apply for the handful of one- and three-bedroom apartments, which range from $1,115 to $2,777/month.

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