No Action on Morris Adjmi-Designed Condo Planned for East Village Explosion Site

By Michelle Mazzarella | From Future New York Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Rendering of 45 East 7th Street (Morris Adjmi Architects)

UPDATE 7/9/2018: The Landmarks Preservation Commission described the proposed building at 119-121 Second Avenue as "close, but not quite there" and did not take action. Commissioners, New York preservationists, and members of the community appreciated Mr. Adjmi's sensitivity to the historic district, but expressed concerns about the penthouse and bulkhead, the corner residential windows, the size of the storefront windows, and the color of the bricks.

Moreover, it was agreed that the new building must commemorate the explosion that leveled the site and killed two people. Nixon Figueroa, the father of Nicholas Figueroa, who died in the explosion, was the first to speak and urged the building's designer and owner to include a permanent plaque. Every subsequent speaker agreed, and Vice Chair Frederick Bland suggested that one of the store windows on Second Avenue could be reduced to make a section of wall with room for an appropriately sized, reverential memorial plaque.

Vacant lot at 119-121 Second Avenue via Nexus Building Development

Whenever a New York building is felled by tragic circumstances, grief is replaced by determination to rebuild and come back better than ever. The former World Trade Center site is now at the heart of a new Downtown, a neighborhood turned destination for working, living, dining, and shopping as never before. And nearly three years after an explosion caused by an illegal tap into a gas main at 119-123 Second Avenue destroyed three buildings and killed two people, renderings have been revealed of a new building to outshine the circa-1886 tenements that once stood on the sites.

Last year, the lots on the corner of East 7th Street at 119-123 Second Avenue sold for $9.15 million. They have sat vacant ever since the debris was cleared away, but will not stay that way if starchitect Morris Adjmi has anything to say about it: Ahead of a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing tomorrow afternoon, more details have been revealed for a seven-story, 21-unit grey brick building with the main address of 45 East 7th Street. A cast stone banding separates the retail from the residential floors, which will have an L-shaped brick façade with matching mortar and oversized windows with metal frames. A detailed metal cornice is in line with its neighbors on Second Avenue at 69 feet high.

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According to Nexus Building Development, which is at the helm of the project in partnership with Immobiliare Capital and Premier Equities, the apartments will range from one- to three-bedrooms. Floor plans show a single unit with a private terrace on the seventh floor that will be distinguished by a corbelled brick facade. All residences will benefit from high ceilings.

Owing to its location in the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District, the new building must be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. A presentation by Nexus Building Development shows that inspiration was drawn from several nearby buildings’ storefronts, facades, masonry, and cornices. Mr. Adjmi’s design demonstrates his well-known respect for historic neighborhoods, but the proposed building height and bulkhead level (77’4” and 99’4”, respectively) could prove problematic.

All renderings of 119-121 Second Avenue via Nexus Building Development

Editor’s Note: Article originally published on July 9, 2018.

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