Construction is progressing on 18 West 116th Street, a 12-story mixed-use building in Harlem, Manhattan. Designed by Fischer + Makooi Architects and developed by Carthage Real Estate Advisors under the Carthage Nexus Canada LP, the 125-foot-tall structure will span 60,702 square feet and yield 55 rental units in studio and one-bedroom layouts. The project will also include community facility space intended to house a new sanctuary for Baptist Temple Church, the property’s longtime former occupant. The property is located between Fifth and Lenox Avenues.
The rendering posted on the construction board depicts a gridded façade of dark gray paneling framing a regular rhythm of punched windows with chamfered, bronze-toned reveals. The massing rises sheer from the property line before stepping back at the uppermost floors, and culminates in a tall, angular bulkhead at the western end of the roofline. At street level, the ground floor is lined with floor-to-ceiling glass and warm wood-toned entry portals.
Amenities listed by the architect include a 24-hour concierge, a residence lounge, and a landscaped rooftop lounge.
18 West 116th Street. Credit: Timothy Bennett.
The property was occupied for more than a century by the former First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek synagogue, a neo-Tudor structure designed by Hedman & Schoen and completed in 1907. The building was sold to Baptist Temple Church in 1939 and suffered a devastating fire in 1965. Partial demolition began in 2009 after the Department of Buildings cited structural instability, but stalled, and the remainder of the church was cleared following a demolition permit issued in 2019.
The congregation sold the site to Carthage in 2018 for $6.7 million, with provisions for the church to return to a new house of worship within the redevelopment. An 11-story, 28-unit condominium scheme by GF55 Partners and a subsequent ten-story, 46-room hotel proposal filed in 2022 were both abandoned before the current plans advanced.
18 West 116th Street’s anticipated completion date is slated for summer 2027, as noted on the construction board.
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Unfortunate broken plane with that inexplicable setback. Looks sharp otherwise.