Landmarks Backs an 88-Unit Affordable SoHo Tower on the Second Try

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-0-0 on September 15 to approve, with modifications, a certificate of appropriateness for 257 Canal Street, where The Children’s Village and Alembic Community Development propose to demolish a 1925 commercial building and construct a 20-story, 88-unit affordable and supportive residence in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension. The vote settles how the replacement may look. It is not a demolition permit, a building permit, or financing.

Why it matters

The mechanism matters more than the outcome. On August 4 the same commission took No Action on the same docket, LPC-26-12659, 8-0-0, on a motion by Commissioner Goldblum seconded by Commissioner Jefferson. The applicants returned six weeks later having cut floor-to-floor heights by 8 inches and swapped the brick for a buff blend closer to the district’s limestone palette. Commissioner Mahan moved approval, Commissioner Ginsberg seconded, and the item carried 9-0-0 on the public meeting agenda, the hearing already closed, so no new testimony was taken. For anyone holding a Canal Street or SoHo site, that is a priced, repeatable concession: roughly 4 feet of height and a masonry color, traded for a design approval in one of the most restrictive districts in the city. Track the rest of the pipeline at the New York market hub.

The numbers

The revised building tops out at 217 feet 11 inches, down from 222 feet 3 inches, a reduction of 4 feet 4 inches that the applicants’ own summary rounds to 4 feet. The cornice drops further, to 184 feet 7 inches from 189 feet 2 inches. The 8-inch floor-to-floor cut is not uniform: the first and second floor heights went up, to give the base more presence. The program is 88 units, 100% permanently low-income affordable, with roughly 60% supportive units for young adults aging out of foster care and 40% for low-income households, funded through the city’s Supportive Housing Loan Program with NYC 15/15 rental assistance vouchers. The site is Manhattan Block 209, Lot 26, zoned M1-5/R10, in Community District 2. The building to be replaced is a 1925 design by Edward E. Bloodgood.

What’s next

Approved with modifications is not the same as approved. The commission attached conditions, and the September 15 calendar does not enumerate them, so the outstanding items are settled with staff before the certificate issues. Only after that does the project reach the Department of Buildings for the demolition and new-building permits that actually authorize work on the site. 6sqft reported the vote on September 16 as a unanimous approval of a 222-foot tower. The commission’s own calendar records an approval with modifications, and the drawings in front of the commissioners that day show 217 feet 11 inches.