Much of the block is occupied by discount retailers and fast-food stores such as Subway, Popeye’s and Golden Crust and Wigs & Plus.

This large and plain, 21-story apartment building therefore is something of a relief although its long retail frontage hosts a lot of small retailers.

The red-brick building s canopied entrance, in fact, is quite small and hard to distinguish, a concession probably to the relatively high retail rents obtainable along this busy and heavily trafficked stretch.

The 21-story building has a doorman, a garage, discrete air-conditioners and a few terraces. It has 424 apartments.

It is distinguished by the narrow, two-brick-high band of black bricks that separate every floor, a very discrete and handsome touch.

Union Square and a Whole Foods store are a short walk away to the east and the excitement of the Meat-Packing District and the High Line Elevated Park are several blocks away to the west.

The low-rise building on the southeast corner of 14th Street and Fifth Avenue is likely to be developed by its owner, the New School, but it abandoned plans in early 2009 for a tall glass tower.