The developers and/or the New York Times chose the start of Passover to unveil their glassy vision of the former Streit’s Matzo site at 150 Rivington St.
In a larger piece in the Times today, there’s a rendering of the 45-unit condo complex that will begin rising just as soon as construction crews demolish the Streit’s factory buildings. The wrecking crews could arrive in the next week or two.
After 90 years on the Lower East Side, the Streit family sold the property to Cogswell Lee Development for $30.5 million last year. A new matzo factory will open in Rockland County later this year.
The 7-story building will include 45 one and two bedroom apartments, with prices starting at around $975,000. A promotional website has already gone live. Brokers will begin selling the condos next month. More from the Times:
The condo’s design, with 13,000 square feet of retail, will be clad in glass, a modern break from the brick buildings that stood there before. Developers plan to decorate the lobby with memorabilia from the original building. Other salvaged objects will be housed in a museum at the new Streit’s factory, which is being built in Rockland County, N.Y. “You have to try to preserve at least some link to the past,” said Arthur R. Stern, the chief executive of Cogswell Lee Development, which is developing 150 Rivington Street with Gluck+, which is also the architect for the project. “That’s ultimately what made the city what it is.”
One day last month, the developers staged a ceremony on the roof of 150 Rivington St.:
A feng shui expert, R. D. Chin, blessed the property with a bowl of vodka-soaked rice, orange peels and incense. “It’s very important to acknowledge the changing of the hands,” he said. The factory was empty, the stairwells lit with lanterns. Rooms that once housed 75-foot ovens and dozens of workers now had plywood covering the windows. Aaron Gross, a fifth-generation owner of the family business, was reflective as he stood on the roof. “It’s eerie being back,” he said. “You’re expecting to see the machines, you’re expecting to see the people.”
As you might have heard, a new documentary, “Streit’s: Matzo & the American Dream,” opened at the Film Forum this week. You can read our interview with filmmaker Michael Levine here.
