Proposal Calls for 25-Story Chrystie Street Hotel

Despite a no-show (withdrawal) at CB3′s zoning committee meeting last month, plans are still very much alive for a new sun-blocking monstrosity along the Chrystie Street corridor, just south of East Houston.  As first mentioned here back in May, one undeveloped parcel of the Cooper Square Urban Renewal Area (“CSURA”) is about to see its fortunes changed forever.

Exactly thirty years after City Planning approved a then-proposed nine-story “apartment building financed by the NYC Housing Development Corp., insured by HUD, and receiving federal Section 8 rent subsidies for eligible tenants,” Community Board 3 will hear a new pitch for 215 Chrystie Street. In June, developers and designers were slated to discuss modifications to the May 1982 plans that would allow for construction of an approximately 195,500 square-foot, 25-story, as-of-right mixed-use building on the mid-block lot.

Public documents recently submitted to the city propose the 25-story tower at 215 Chrystie Street as a HOTEL, currently carrying the working name of “Chrystie St. Hotel.” Moreover, these blueprints further indicate that the first seventeen floors are dedicated to hospitality, while the remainder is earmarked for “residential” living (likely luxury condos).

The architecture firm tasked with the project is the SoHo-based Handel Architects. Their upper-crust portfolio includes Chelsea’s Dream Hotel, the Trump SoHo, and 40 Bond. So this should give the Lower East Side a sour taste of what could arrive here in a few short years. Meanwhile, there are still no renderings on the official website…

The project is on the CB3 docket again later this month when it will be put to a full vote.