In recent years, the area surrounding an exit from the Holland Tunnel just south of Canal Street, has undergone tremendous redevelopment with most of the surrounding larger loft properties being converted to residential use.

One of the smaller sites, albeit a very prominent one, is a new construction project that is now nearing completion at 48 Laight Street on the northeast corner at Hudson Street in TriBeCa.

The exterior of the six-story building has been nearly completed and its white facade with deeply inset, broad, multipaned windows along Hudson Street and its protruding dark-blue-gray facade on Laight Street make it stand out in this neighborhood of larger brown- and red-brick old loft buildings.

The building is highlighted by its perforated "floating" roof element at the penthouse level.

The design by Dana Lee Sottile of DLSDesign combines the brightness of Le Corbusier's designs with the flair of South Beach. In 2000, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved her "contemporary" design for the building with five full-floor lofts but her plan did not advance until a couple of years later when a new owner, David Ennis of the Daten Group, began construction, keeping her exterior design but revising the interior to accommodate 9 apartments ranging in size from 1,400 to 3,300 square feet. Kutnicki Bernstein became the production architect.

Some apartments will have gas fireplaces and give units will be accessed by an keyed elevator. All the apartments have triple glazed windows, video security and individual climate control.