The Manhattan Times

New developments taking shape

by Daniel P. Bader

Despite the economic recession, several new buildings in Northern Manhattan are well on their way to being completed, and a few projects are on the drawing board. Almost without exception, the buildings that have risen into the uptown skyline are government projects or were already underway and had secured financing before the credit crunch locked down lending markets in October 2008.

4466 Broadway

One of the most obvious projects for anyone going between Washington Heights and Inwood is the skeleton of 4466 Broadway, the site of a former car wash at W. 192nd Street. Throughout the fall a massive yellow crane has occasionally appeared and disappeared from Broadway. According to Jackson Builders site manager Daniel Radd, the crane has been lifting heavy steel I-beams and other construction materials into the site. The building started off slowly as excavation of the site was stopped when cracks were discovered in surrounding buildings. 4466 Broadway LLC and Jackson Builders had to install bracing against the impacted buildings.

According to Radd, the building will be “topped off” in February, and completed within 12 months.

One effect of the recession is how the building will be marketed. In 2007, 63 condos and street-level commercial space were planned for the site. Radd said the plan now is to have 84 units of rental housing in the building.

212 Bennett Condominiums

One block west, the 212 Bennett Condominiums are almost complete and will be on the market in the spring. Developer Abraham Sandberg said the building will have 40 apartments. Of those, 25 to 28 will be one-bedroom spaces, the rest will be two-bedroom apartments.

This is the second condo project in Northern Manhattan for Sandberg. His first, Inwood Hills Condos at 175 Payson Avenue, came on the market just as the recession hit. As previously reported, the amount of square footage at Inwood Hills was small compared to pre-war co-ops in the market. The apartments in 212 Bennett are larger, anywhere between 700-1,000 square feet depending on the number of bedrooms.

Sandberg said half of the roof of 212 Bennett will be open to residents during the day and until 10 p.m. at night. Each apartment will have modern amenities like hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances. Each unit will have its own hookups for a washer and dryer.

Sandberg’s other buildings are in Brooklyn, but he decided to branch out to Northern Manhattan after an evening visit to one of the sites.

“I went there once late at night and I was pleasantly surprised,” Sandberg said. People were walking their dogs, it was quiet and he felt safe, he said.

The 212 Bennett site was also attractive because of its proximity to Ft. Tryon Park, the 190th Street A-train entrance and, just a block away, the 191st Street 1-train entrance.

Sandberg expects to market the apartments at the $500 to $560/sf price range, and said a few model apartments might be ready this winter.

P.S./I.S. 263 Washington Heights Academy, Sherman Avenue at W. 204th Street

A new K-8 schools is taking shape on Sherman Avenue and W. 204th Street. During a recent tour with Council Member-elect Ydanis Rodriguez and Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat workers at the site said the heavy rains in the spring slowed construction considerably, but crews are working 10-hour shifts and are back on schedule. During a 2008 Community Board 12 meeting the School Construction Authority said the small size of the site posed some difficulty for the architects, but that some creativity allowed them to pack a lot into a small space.

One feature is an auditorium that is accessible from outside that would allow community groups to have meetings even when the school is closed. The gym was built underground and a fenced in, outdoor playground accessible from two floors has been incorporated into the site.

Department of Education spokesperson Will Havemann said the school is scheduled to be completed in June and open for the 2010-2011 school year.

Washington Heights Academy, a K-4 school now located at a temporary site on Nagle Avenue, will be moving into the new building. However, according to the Department of Portfolio and Planning, Washington Heights Academy’s bid to become a K-8 school is no longer under consideration. It’s possible that two schools will occupy the small building.

The school is the only elementary school in District 6 that received an “F” on its 2008-09 Progress Report. Critics of the reports, including City Council Member Robert Jackson, believe the reports, which are meant to measure individual student progress year to year, are misleading.

Havemann did not respond to questions about whether the poor progress report led to the school being denied its application to change grade levels.

George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal

Both the Port Authority and developers PA Associates are mum on the rehab of the architecturally significant but dated George Washington Bus Terminal. A year ago P/A Associates inked a deal for a $100 million redevelopment of the commercial space in the terminal while the authority spent $50 million to redo the bus facilities.

Sources familiar with the project said that P/A Associates have reached out to the U.S. Postal Service to relocate the 180th Street Sgt. Riyan A. Tejeda Post Office in the terminal. The Postal Service is in the middle of renegotiating a long term lease at its current location and has had its lease on 180th Street extended until the spring.

Neither the Port Authority nor PA Associates would comment on the project.

SoBro development at 21 Ft. George Hill

Representatives of SoBro, a non-profit that, among other things, develops affordable housing, were at the Nov. 4 Community Board 12 Land Use Committee meeting to show board members renderings of the site, located just behind the Dyckman Street 1-train station. SoBro is seeking a variance from the City Board of Standards and Appeals to build a larger building than is allowed at the site.

Similar to the Rocky Mount Baptist Church development at 37 Hillside Avenue, 21 Fort George Hill is owned by a church, Centro Evangelistico located on 10th Avenue and W. 207th Street, which is trading the air rights for church space within the building.

The elliptically-shaped 20,000 square foot building would have 138 units of affordable housing. If built without requested variance, SoBro could only build 78 units of housing – a project that funding sources wouldn’t mortgage, said SoBro Director of Residential Development Yoonie Cho.

“Without community board support we can’t go before the BSA,” said Cho.

Comparing the project to the 37 Hillside Avenue building, which did not get the support of Community Board 12, and adding that the building proposed is twice the size allowed by zoning, committee chair Wayne Benjamin suggested determining the minimum size required to secure a lender.

Other developments

As of spring 2008, the Alianza Dominicana “triangle building” had been topped off and was being walled in. The building located on a wedge of land between W. 165th Street, St. Nicholas and Audubon Avenues was expected to be finished in Jan. 2010. Calls to the non-profit were not returned by press times.

According to hospital spokesperson Bryan Dotson, The Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital being built on Fort Washington Avenue and W. 165th Street is still on schedule to be completed in January 2010.