On Friday, you may have seen this rendering, purportedly of a new 12-story residential and retail project as part of Essex Crossing. 6sqft called it a “first look” at the building that will one day replace the Essex Street Market, after vendors move across Delancey Street into a new facility. The rendering eventually made its way to other blogs, such as Curbed and the Real Deal.
Before the weekend, we reached out to the Essex Crossing developers, who told us yesterday, “We aren’t familiar with this rendering. We have yet to select an architect and begin design work on Site 9.” The image is still on the site of GF55 Partners, the architectural outfit that came up with the concept. The company was one of many design firms taking part in the competitive bidding process to build the high profile project in the former Seward Park urban renewal area.
The developers who were selected — BFC Partners, L+M Development Partners and Taconic Investment Partners — are concentrating on the first phase of construction. Site 9 construction isn’t expected to begin until the winter of 2019. Plans call for 78 condominium apartments on sites 9 and 10, plus retail. The parcel in question was part of the 2008 Lower East Side rezoning. This means there’s an 80 foot height limit, except for a small portion of the lot on Delancey Street, where the height limit is 120 feet.
