The former Jewish Daily Forward Building at 173 East Broadway, perhaps the most prominent and important landmark on the Lower East Side, was converted in 2006 into 29 condominium apartments by Ronald Castellano and Christopher Hayes, who had previously converted the Garfield Building not far away at 142 Henry Street.

The Forward building was designed in Beaux-Arts style by George A. Boehn, who also designed the very ornate mid-rise, mid-block building at 165 West 57th Street across from Carnegie Hall in 1916.

Its richly ornamented façade has the Forward Building incised above its arched entrance in English and in Yiddish near the top of the 10-story building.

It was erected in 1912 and served as the headquarters of the Jewish Daily Forward until it was sold to the Lau family in 1974 and it moved to its present location at 49 East 33rd Street. Mr. Castellano told CityRealty.Com that the Lau family used the building s first two floors as a Chinese church and bible factory and kept the rest of the building vacant until 1998 when they sought to convert it to about 39 condominiums. It was put on the condo market just before Sept. 11, 2001, however, and afterwards the apartments came off the market.

During renovations, statues of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were moved but returned to their "rightful" place, and in 2004 the building was sold.

Mr. Castellano and Mr. Hayes finished the renovation and obtained a certificate of occupancy as well as approval from the city’s Landmarks...