Jacob Schwimmer'sJCS Realty is moving ahead with a 38-story, 711-unit rental tower at 180 East 125th Street, while the adjacent MTA-owned site at 160 East 125th Street is also being positioned for a major 40-story mixed-use tower above the future Second Avenue Subway terminus.
It has been more than a decade since Extell Development first set its sights on the former Pathmark supermarket site at East 125th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues. Since then, the corner has certainly seen better days. What was once a major neighborhood supermarket became one of the city's most troubled intersections, all sitting at the doorstep of the Lexington Avenue subway and within sight of Metro-North’s Harlem-125th Street station. Anyone who has rode by on the M60 to LaGuardia or walked east along 125th Street has seen it clearly.
Gary Barnett’s Extell Development bought the former Pathmark property in 2014 for $39 million and later spent another $21 million to buy Pathmark out of its lease, according to reports at the time. But the current development plans are now split between two separate adjacent sites. JCS Realty’s Jacob Schwimmer purchased 180 East 125th Street from Extell for $70 million in December 2024, taking over the larger eastern portion of the former assemblage. The adjacent 160 East 125th Street site, meanwhile, was sold by Extell to the MTA for $82 million in 2023 and is now tied to the agency’s future Second Avenue Subway station and rezoning plans.
The last time Extell redeveloped a Pathmark, the result was One Manhattan Square, the tallest, largest, and perhaps the most controversial single building on the Lower East Side. Seven miles north, the East Harlem Pathmark story has been even more complicated. The original sale from East Harlem Abyssinian Triangle drew immediate criticism from local residents, elected officials, and community advocates, many of whom feared the loss of a major supermarket and the arrival of high-end housing on the site. The criticism only grew after the store closed and was demolished six years ago as the surrounding blocks declined.
The former Pathmark block sits at what is poised to become one of Upper Manhattan’s most important transit nodes. Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway will extend the Q line north into East Harlem, with new stations at 106th Street, 116th Street, and 125th Street/Lexington Avenue. The 125th Street station is planned as a major transfer point, connecting with the 4/5/6 trains and Metro-North’s Harlem-125th Street station, while also sitting near the M60 Select Bus Service to LaGuardia. The long-promised extension has turned an already transit-rich corridor into a natural place for much more housing.
MTA's plan for a 40-story mixed-use tower next to JCS' lot at the southeast corner of Lexington and East 125th Street
The MTA’s 125th and Lexington rezoning is among the first major examples of the new high-density zoning tools created through City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. The proposal would rezone the MTA-owned 160 East 125th Street site and facilitate a 40-story transit-oriented mixed-use building above the future subway terminus. City documents depict a tower with nearly 700 homes, including more than 150 permanently affordable and income-restricted units.
Next door, JCS Realty’s 180 East 125th Street is finally rising after several abandoned versions of the project. Extell once envisioned the site as Harlem Headquarters, a nine-story, Gensler-designed Class A office building with roughly 441,600 square feet of space. Later plans shifted toward residential use, including a 13-story building with 479 apartments. Now, updated DOB filings now point to a much larger mixed-use rental building of 38 stories, 410 feet, 711 apartments, ground-floor retail, a supermarket, and 116 parking spaces. S9 Architecture, which designed One East Harlem diagonally across the way, is listed as the architect of record.
Rendering showing Extell's planned "Harlem Headquarters" for 180 East 125th Street (Gensler for Extell Development)
Rendering showing earlier 15-story residential plan for 180 East 125th Street (S9 Architecture for Extell Development)
JCS' 410-foot tower would become the tallest building in East Harlem, overtaking the recently completed Sendero Verde, the 100% affordable Passive House development farther south at 112th Street. Its reign may not last long. The MTA’s adjacent site at 160 East 125th Street could bring a similarly scaled tower to the block, meaning this once-single-story supermarket site may soon translate into a new center for Upper Manhattan.
The amenity package at 180 East 125th Street will be comprehensive, with filings showing bike parking, a sauna, golf simulator, listening and music rooms, podcast room, screening room, party room, game room, karaoke room, children’s rooms, demonstration kitchen, maker space, fitness center, yoga studio, cycling room, Pilates studio, and several amenity terraces.
The boxy building will be crowned by a roof deck and lounge. From the upper levels, the views should be majestic, encompassing four boroughs, three rivers, and Central Park about a mile to the south.
The boxy building will be crowned by a roof deck and lounge. From the upper levels, the views should be majestic, encompassing four boroughs, three rivers, and Central Park about a mile to the south.
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The broader East 125th Street corridor is changing quickly as well. One avenue east, the long-stalled East 125th Street Development project has already produced One East Harlem, whose supermarket and apartments helped bring life back to the far eastern end of the corridor near the RFK/Triborough Bridge approach.
Additional large residential plans are now moving through the pipeline nearby. In late July, plans were filed for a massive 14-story, 848-unit rental building at 243 East 125th Street (Site C), directly adjacent to One East Harlem. Earlier this year, the city’s Economic Development Corporation has also issued an RFP for the B-East site at 2453 Second Avenue between East 125th and East 126th streets, calling for a mixed-use residential building with roughly 140 homes and active ground-floor uses. Across Second Avenue, a site now used an MTA bus depot is slated for another major development with a memorial for the African burial grounds that once occupied the site.
Additional large residential plans are now moving through the pipeline nearby. In late July, plans were filed for a massive 14-story, 848-unit rental building at 243 East 125th Street (Site C), directly adjacent to One East Harlem. Earlier this year, the city’s Economic Development Corporation has also issued an RFP for the B-East site at 2453 Second Avenue between East 125th and East 126th streets, calling for a mixed-use residential building with roughly 140 homes and active ground-floor uses. Across Second Avenue, a site now used an MTA bus depot is slated for another major development with a memorial for the African burial grounds that once occupied the site.
Site of 243 East 125th Street with One East Harlem in the distance to the right and 180 East 125th Street rising on the left
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