Drill Rig Spotted Outside Future 700-Foot Towers Behind Lands End II
Let the drilling begin.
The enormous development behind Lands End II might be in a holding pattern, but things are hearing up. It is here that L+M Partners and the CIM Group hope to construct a 68-story residential building comprised of two towers.
A token Davey Drill vehicle was spotted curbside on South Street last weekend. Typically this hardware is employed for soil samples ahead of large-scale projects.
Update: a spokesperson for Two Bridges Associates tells us, “We are not currently doing any work at Lands End II or related to our proposed project at 260 South Street. To our knowledge, this was simply just a truck parked on the street.”
As previously reported, L+M Partners and the CIM Group are planning to develop the parking lots facing the water (aka 260 South Street), another of the so-called “soft sites” along the Lower East Side waterfront receiving renewed attention (i.e. gold rush), and fourth to be developed in the last few years.

Photo: Handel Architects
L+M/CIM have partnered with Handel Architects for the two-towered project that is to add 1.1 million square-feet of floor area. Both towers will altogether include 1,350 apartments with more than 300 earmarked as affordable; retail spaces are also anticipated on the Cherry Street front, including the possibility of a grocery or pharmacy. The displaced parking for Lands End II Section 8 residents will also be relocated to a subterranean lot, and one hundred residents will lose river views.
However, Councilwoman Chin and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer appear committed to blocking the out-of-scale development happening on the East River waterfront by trying to amend the zoning to require a full public review (i.e. ULURP). It’s too late for Extell, but not for the other three projects in the pipeline.