Most of Williamsburg’s larger buildings have grown on the Northside, where waterfront parcels were deliberately upzoned. But every once in a while, a developer manages to snag a fairly large parcel like 329 Broadway, on the corner of Rodney Street beneath the elevated J/M/Z tracks.
Nelson Management paid $51.5 million for the four-building, rent-stabilized complex known as Lafayette Boynton in the Soundview section of the South Bronx in 2011, and they just spent another $17 million renovating its 972 apartments. Now the Forest Hills-based firm plans to build two more 13-story towers in the sprawling development next to Soundview Park.
Big Brooklyn Rehab Inc. has filed applications for a six-story, 11-unit residential building at 231 East 123rd Street, in East Harlem, four blocks from the 125th Street stop on the 4, 5 and 6 trains. The building will measure 8,670 square feet, which means units will average 790 square feet — probably rentals. Woody Chen’s Infocus Design & Planning is the applicant of record, and the existing three-story, three-family townhouse must first be demolished.
In March, YIMBY revealed renderings of the four-building, 223-unit condominium redevelopment of Cabrini Medical Center, in Gramercy. Now, developers Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity have closed on a $345.5 million loan for the project, according to Commercial Observer. Dubbed Gramercy Square, three medical buildings will be converted, and a fourth building will be constructed ground-up. Also planned is a 25,000 square-foot court yard, designed by M. Paul Friedberg and Partners; Woods Bagot is the project’s design architect. Completion is expected in 2016.
The current round of the 57th Street boom is making rapid progress, and construction work at 220 Central Park South in particular is moving quickly. Despite all the momentum, slight uncertainty has surrounded the building’s final design, but YIMBY now has a fresh rendering confirming the skyscraper’s ultimate appearance.
