When YIMBY last reported on the six-story, five-unit residential project at 52 Wooster Street, located at the corner of Broome Street in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, a teaser site had just been launched. Now, thanks to photos from our friend Tectonic, we can see that much more has been accomplished.
Back in 2013, the city’s School Construction Authority announced plans to renovate the exterior of the six-story, 102-foot-tall Seward Park High School, located at 350 Grand Street, on the Lower East Side. Since then the structure has been shrouded in scaffolding, and the façade is finally being revealed, Bowery Boogie reports. Upgrades include new windows, new parapets, and rooftop installations, and it appears much of the brick has been restored and cleaned. The building never closed, and work was done only after school hours and on the weekends. The rest of the scaffolding is expected to be removed imminently.
Yesterday, the Hudson River Park Trust launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the design phase of Pier 40’s much needed repair and renovation, Crain’s reported. The 15-acre sports facility is located in the Hudson River off Hudson Square and serves a key role in Westbrook Partners’ and Atlas Capital Group’s planned mixed-use development at 550 Washington Street, which is currently moving through the city’s Urban Land Use Review Process (ULURP). The developers plan to transfer roughly $100 million worth of air rights off Pier 40, although they will have to wait until the ULURP is finished (which legalizes the sale). The proceeds from the sale would fund Pier 40’s eventual overhaul, which will include a 10-year plan to replace more than half of its 3,500 steel piles. ULURP for the project across the street is expected to wrap up this fall, and, at that point, the Hudson River Park Trust will launch another RFP in search for a team to follow through with the design plans.
During the summer of 2015, Kushner Companies and CIM Group filed plans with the Department of City Planning to convert the 26-story, 466,000-square-foot office building at 2 Rector Street, in the Financial District, into 452 rental apartments. The developers are now abandoning those plans and are in contract to sell the office building to Cove Property Group for roughly $225 million, according to the New York Post. The sale comes three years after Kushner and CIM acquired the property for $140 million. The new owners plan to continue leasing the property to commercial tenants. It was 84 percent occupied in 2015, by multiple tenants.
A 35-story mixed-use project in the Financial District can now go forward, thanks to approval from the Landmarks Preservation on Tuesday. The project is at 77 Greenwich Street (a.k.a. 42 Trinity Place) and needed LPC approval because it would cantilever over the Robert and Anne Dickey House, an individual landmark immediately to the south at 67 Greenwich Street (a.k.a. 28-30 Trinity Place). The changes to the design weren’t too dramatic and one of them was described as a “no-brainer” by the LPC chair.
