44 Mercer Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 44 Mercer Street by Carter Horsley

This 7-story building at 44 Mercer Street between Grand and Broome Streets in SoHo has a very handsome façade with a curved front and is adjacent to the rear, through-block garden/alley of 40 Mercer Street, which was designed by Jean Nouvel. 

This building was designed by TRA Studio of which Caterina Roiatti and Robert Trabisco are principals. The firm also designed 72 Mercer Street. 

This building was completed in 2009 and has five condominium apartments.

Mordachai Lipkis is listed at the Department of Buildings as the developer.

Bottom Line

A very handsome, new loft building that salvaged some cast-iron columns from a demolished building that had been damaged in a fire in the 1960s. It is in the heart of SoHo and adjacent to a larger building designed by Jean Nouvel.

Description

The Mercer Street façade of this building on a cobblestone street is extremely elegant with slightly recessed multi-paned windows framing a gently bowed center secton of multi-paned windows above the ground floor. 

The building has balconies facing its rear courtyard.

Amenities

The building has a doorman, a fitness center, a laundry room, a library and a fireplace.

Apartments

Several of the apartments have a 21-foot-wide living room facing Mercer Street with a 11-foot-wide open kitchen with an island and two bedrooms in the rear with a 23-foot-square patio. 

The triplex penthouse has a 21-foot-wide master bedroom facing Mercer Street on the 6^th floor with two smaller bedrooms sharing a balcony in the rear.  The 7^th floor has a 21-foot-wide living room with a balcony facing Mercer Street with 12-foot-high ceilings and a 12-foot-long dining area next to a 12-foot-long open kitchen with an island and a large terrace with a spiral staircase to the roof where there are two other large terraces, one with a hot tub.

History

Three stories of an existing 5-story cast-iron and brick loft building were destroyed in a fire in the 1960s. 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission wanted a new development on the city to use the building’s ground-floor cast-iron columns. 

The developer and architects obtained a change of use variance, argued for the reduction of the rear yard, without which the loft apartments would have been too small, and obtained a variance for the sky exposure plane, without which the penthouse levels would have been all core. They also got permission from the Department of Buildings for higher ceilings on the lower floors.

In 2005, the architects completed another nearby project, 22 Mercer Street that extends through the block to 443-5 Broadway. The 16-unit building has four lightwells lined with glass with ceramic patterns of dots and very reflective Trespa panels. The architects also have designed 501 Broadway that runs through the block to 72 Mercer Street.