The First Hint at What Could Replace Streit's Matzo Factory

This past spring, a Lower East Side mainstay churned out Passover matzo for the last time. After more than seven years of putting its building—at the prime corner of Rivington and Suffolk streets—on and off the market, Streit's Matzo Factory finally decided it was time to cash in and move operations elsewhere. The property, made up of four adjacent six-story tenement buildings that together add up to about 50,000 square feet, ultimately sold for $30.5 million to Cogswell Realty. Now a tipster passes along documents containing the first hint of what might replace the iconic shop: and it's a residential building, of course.

Architecture firm Gluck+, known in part for modular construction, has its logo on some slides, so they must be involved. Massing diagrams also show possible versions of a six- to seven-story building with or without the purchase of air rights. According to tipster intel, the developer is very close to a deal with neighbors on Suffolk Street—most likely the 48-unit Suffolk Homes townhome-style condominium that is immediately south of the matzo factory—to buy more than 14,000 square feet of air rights. The cost? About $2.7 million. An email sent to homeowners says that 85 percent of them must approve the sale, but the developer apparently plans to go ahead with the smaller version of the project if the deal doesn't close by August 30.

The diagram below shows the amount of air rights for sale at sites on the entire block around Streit's. The area in red is the factory, and the area in yellow are the Suffolk Homes.

(Click for big!)

Below, diagrams showing how a factory building of increased size—it's unclear whether it would be a conversion or new construction—would affect the surrounding buildings, shadow-wise. 130-148 Suffolk Street is the address for the Suffolk Homes development, so it seems safe to assume that homeowners would want to know the effect a taller building would have on their property, via a presentation of this kind, before agreeing to sell any air rights.

Know anything about the project? Think Suffolk Homes is getting a fair price for their air rights? Let us know, either in the comments or via the tipline.
· All Streit's Matzo Factory coverage [Curbed]