It's confirmed: a church on 110th Street across from Central Park is no more, and a residential building will (eventually) takes its place. Harlem Bespoke snapped a photo of the tell-tale green fencing with no religious structure behind it to confirm its demise. Meanwhile, a preliminary Department of Buildings application "to convert the cellar and first floor and to enlarge the building," filed in March, was initially rejected because of incomplete drawings but is currently undergoing review from both the DOB and the Board of Standards and Appeals, which handles zoning and will assess the building's height and setbacks. The application for a permit calls for a 13-story, 24-unit building that takes up 50,770 square feet. An early floor-by-floor breakdown has a community facility and church auditorium on the first floor, as well as bike storage, two recreation areas, a meeting room, and a dressing room. Presumably a church will be the ground-floor tenant with some facilities while the other amenities are for residents living above.
Because the DOB application is in an unsatisfying limbo, Curbed put in calls to architect http://www.davidhowell.net/ and developer Einhorn Development Group. Both confirmed that the residential project was still on but that it was too early to share renderings and the like. Principal Yiannes Einhorn said: "It's a vacant site now and we're in the process of planning the future development." Reports have put the building between 11 and 13 stories, which Einhorn says will be hammered out according to zoning laws. The apartments are likely to be rentals, he added.
Einhorn and Howell have gotten a lot of flack for their collaboration on another church-conversion project in Chelseawhich is rather unattractive, based on renderingsso let's see what kind of design emerges for this site, which is between Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard to the east and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard to the west.
Real estate bordering Central Park is coveted, to say the least, and development sites are limited. One Curbed on Central Park West and 86th Street sold and is going condo, while the gas station at the northwest corner of the park is a goner, to make way for 56 apartments.
· Revive: Church Demolished at 110th Street [HB]
· Revive: Demolition at Central Park North [Curbed]
· 145 Central Park North coverage [Curbed]
· Losing Our Religion archive [Curbed]