By Brian J. Pape, AIA
You know that you are in a popular neighborhood when there seems to be construction on every block. This stroll covers one small area of the West Village. Let’s start along West Street, just south of the condo at 1 Morton Square.
Ian Schrager and his development partners tapped Herzog+de Meuron plus S9 Architects to design the unusual, curved, concrete condo building at 160 Leroy Street. The 12-story, 56-unit structure is now topped off and closed in, all the way up to the mechanical room and bulkheads on the roof, adding a few more levels above the residences.
The $100 million air-rights-development-transfer from Pier 40 to St. John’s Terminal on West Street seems quiet for now while COOKFOX Architects works on design details for a major new building there.
Back on Leroy Street, 601 Washington Street will soon be a new nine-story, (only) eight-unit apartment building designed by BKSK Architects for Charles Dunne, the developer. You may recall the former La Frieda meatlocker-turned-art gallery at this location, stretching from Washington to Greenwich Streets.
At the other corner of Leroy and Greenwich Streets, on a former parking lot, Property Markets Group (PMG) developers hired Workshop/ADP Architecture to design a 10-story, 12-unit apartment block with five townhouses adjacent to it. Foundations have been set for the buildings, and steel structural members are sprouting above grade.
A half-block over, at 627-631 Greenwich Street, is a 10-story loft (industrial) building from 1911 being converted to residential use with a two-story addition on top, plus two levels of mechanical towers, by the 90 Morton Owner LLC developer.
On the other corner of Greenwich and Morton Streets is another old loft building that the NYC School Construction Authority is converting into a seven-story I.S. 323 school, which includes a wing on Barrow Street and a playground on the corner. There were construction delays reported when part of the existing steel framework was found to be inadequate and had to be reinforced. The entire building is wrapped in white plastic so facade work can be done; it glows warmly at night from the lights inside.
The Church of St. Luke in the Fields owns the entire block from Barrow and Greenwich Streets to Christopher and Hudson Streets, and is wrapping up a major development project there. A new 12-story, 33-unit condo called ‘100 Barrow’ has been built by Toll Brothers, with Barry Rice Architects, under a long-term land lease that includes the four townhouses on Barrow Street that were gut renovated. The spotty brick and gold-tone metal tower has begun sales at $2 million to over $13 million per unit. Next to it, at 657 Greenwich Street, the expanded St. Luke’s School classroom building has had its scaffolding removed, revealing a two-story addition on top of the old two stories. It appears that the mixture of red brick and painted metal panels was meant to tie the old and new together, but the metal panels should have been carried down to the old building materials, instead of allowing the clash of infill brick.
Nearby, the work at 144-150 Barrow Street by William Gottlieb Real Estate and Morris Adjmi Architects will see the historic exterior facade restoration of the Keller Hotel, which is planned to begin shortly. It has already been approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Demolition of the townhouse at 176 Christopher Street and the garage at 144 Barrow Street will allow the construction of a new six-story hotel addition, with the lobby entrance on Christopher Street.
The same Gottlieb/Morris Adjmi team is working on two other redevelopment sites, 156-162 Perry Street and 540-544 Hudson Street. The Perry Street location also borders on Charles Lane, one of only a few alleyways in Manhattan, and has been declared a Brownfield site. After demolition of the old warehouses and remediation, they plan a six-story, 18-unit condo building. 540 Hudson Street is a trapezoidal corner site of an old gas station, so it may have contamination problems too; this is where Caribe trucks are parked. A seven-story, 26-unit residential building with storefront retail has been announced for this site.
The Shepherd condo at 275 West 10th Street, an 1897 warehouse converted years ago, is going through a gut renovation, adding new lobby and roof deck space for its 38 units.
I hope that you enjoyed this tour, and will use it as a guide to what is happening in your neighborhood.
