Greenwich Village condos overlooking MacDougal-Sullivan Historic District launch sales

The contested condo development is now in its final phases

By Amy Plitt@plitter Jan 10, 2017, 12:05pm EST

It’s been a while since we heard any news about 178 Bleecker Street, the condo building most famous for raising its neighbors’ hackles—most famously, Anna Wintour—because it may have blocked light to the posh MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens historic district, bordered by 21 townhouses (including one owned by the Vogue editor).

But that wasn’t all: To construct the new building, a Civil War-era townhouse had to be demolished—and because this was before the South Village Historic District was a thing, it happened with ease. Preservationists, of course, were not pleased.

Plans for the new condo were filed in 2012, but all has been quiet since then—until now. The seven-story complex has a new name—Dolce Greenwich Village—and sales have now launched on three of its four units, including a 1,682-square-foot duplex penthouse.

The building itself is also nearly complete, and preservationists weren’t exactly wrong about the building looking out-of-character for the neighborhood (Wintour called it “inappropriate” at an LPC meeting). Its “industrial-inspired” brick facade and metal balconies aren’t exactly in keeping with the historic district’s stately townhouses.

But the condos themselves are nice enough, with Italian-imported materials (hence the name?), private elevators, and—sure to be the selling point—outdoor space in each apartment that overlooks the MacDougal-Sullivan gardens.

Predictably for new-build luxury condos in Greenwich Village—with a rarefied view one of the city’s most exclusive enclaves, no less—the apartments are not cheap: a 1,118-square-foot two-bedroom wants $3.3 million, while that duplex penthouse is asking $5.75 million.

And then there’s this, tucked at the bottom of a press release: