Essex Crossing preps for residents with new interactive website

It’s been a big year for Essex Crossing, the Lower East Side megaproject rising on the site once known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. The first phase of the development, which includes several residential buildings and a lot of retail, is coming along: the affordable housing lotteries for its senior housing and first rental building launched, following the sales launch for 242 Broome, the project’s first condo building.

And now, with those buildings swiftly rising, Developer Delancey Street Associates (a collaboration between L & M Development Partners, BFC Partners, and Taconic) has taken the next step: rebranding—well, sort of. The name “Essex Crossing” isn’t going anywhere, but there’s a new website for the development, intended to provide plenty of information for those who are curious about the megaproject.

“We’re at a critical point,” explains Isaac Henderson, the project manager for Essex Crossing. Up until this year, the megaproject was little more than a concept; but as buildings have risen and apartments have come online, it’s begun to feel like more of a place where people will actually live. When the website first launched, it reflected that, serving as more of a source of information for the Lower East Siders who would be affected by construction.

Now, though some of those components remain (like a weekly construction update), the whole thing is consumer-facing. The website, designed by QuallsBenson, now has more concrete information on renting, buying, and the various other components of the development. “We’re trying to give people the tools to understand what they’re getting from Essex Crossing,” says Henderson.

One of those things—“one of the biggest and most important assets of the project,” according to Henderson—is the location. To connect the project to its surrounding neighborhood, QuallsBenson worked with Delancey Street Associates on an interactive map that spotlights local businesses, from Lower East Side lifers like Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery to newcomers like indie cinema Metrograph. “We love the Lower East Side, explains Henderson, “So we’re trying to make it as reflective and comprehensive of the community as possible.”

As for that “critical point” that Henderson mentioned: Delancey Associates is anticipating the first move-ins on site by this fall, and by his estimation, “85 to 90 percent of the first phase”—which includes the Market Line, the huge new bazaar and food hall, and retail offerings like Trader Joe’s and Target—will either be completed or under construction by 2018.

• Essex Crossing [Official]
• All Essex Crossing coverage [Curbed]